Hell's Bells
by Idunnowhy
Summary: When you go head to head with the Volturi, what will it take for Bella and her family to walk away intact? The conclusion to "Out from Under" and "Here There Be Demons".
1. Prologue

_**Happy New Year everyone! As promised, here is the prologue to "Hell's Bells", the third and final installment following "Out from Under" and "Here There Be Demons". As always, all reviews are welcome, and to those of you who have been following since the beginning, I can't thank you enough! You'll have to let me know what you think. All canon characters belong to Stephanie Meyer alone. They just let me take them out and play with them every once in a while! **_

**January**

**Jacob**

"We're gathered here today because Dr. Cullen has presented me with an…interesting request. One I think everyone here deserves to hear before I make a decision one way or another."

The formality in my tone made me wince. It was just unusual enough to have everyone sitting up a little straighter…and Quil and Embry looking at me like I'd lost my mind. Executive decisions weren't really my thing. And they _really_ weren't my thing when it came to the Cullens, since our treaty with them affected the entire pack.

Well hell. After the conversation I'd had that morning, I wasn't too certain about my sanity. Guess I shouldn't be surprised when everyone else was starting to wonder too.

"Dr. Cullen."

Sue Clearwater, who had taken Harry's place on the tribal council after his death (and had the potential to make my life a living hell, since she was dating my wife's father), stood up held out a hand to the man standing next to me. Carlisle Cullen, doctor, father, founder of the Olympic coven. One of the best men I had ever met.

And the whole reason I was standing there, shifting uncomfortably while 30+ pairs of eyes pinned me to the spot. Wet drops trickled down my back as Carlisle shook Sue's hand with his usual gracious charm and a warm smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

Great. Fabulous. My first major act as pack alpha and I was sweating like a stuck hog. Yeah, that, and the stench of my fear, ought to go a long way toward instilling confidence in the pack that I wouldn't totally screw this up. Damn it, why couldn't Cullen have done this six months earlier? Then it would have been Sam's problem instead of mine.

'Because he couldn't do it when everyone else was here,' whispered the voice in my head.

Hello, common sense. How have you been? What he was suggesting was so stupid, it was no wonder he'd done it while the rest of his coven-his family-was in Italy playing guard dog for Bella, Billy and the baby. It was crazy. Insane. Completely bonkers. It was…

'What you've been dying to do since you first found out the bloodsuckers were real.'

'Yeah, but not like this. Jesus.'

'Then how?'

'I don't know, just…not like this.'

"Um, Jake? You gonna say something, or you just gonna stand there sweating like a pig all night?"

Laughter rang around the circle. I smiled weakly, but now that the moment was here I was as lost for words as I had been that morning. What on earth had possessed me to think I'd be any more ready now?

The mist from the ocean swirled around my ears, dancing in the shadows before burning away in the heat of the fire. Waves crashed against the shore, and somewhere up in the hills a wolf (the ordinary kind) howled at the moon. My mind narrowed to those tiny details, unable to wrap itself around the enormity of what I was about to do.

A cool, reassuring hand landed on my shoulder.

"Perhaps it would be easiest if I explained myself," Carlisle suggested gently.

With a nod I stepped back, dropping cross-legged at his feet. Hopefully the fact that I wasn't standing anymore would do something about the nausea clawing and ripping at my insides.

"The treaty between our families is an old one, and one that has sustained us for generations," Carlisle began, his voice smoothly ebbing and flowing like the tide. "Since the attack by the newborns, and through Bella's marriage to Jacob, we've been able to not only co-exist with your pack but to build a mutually beneficial relationship-a friendship-that has served us well. What I'm about to ask is going to strain the boundaries of that friendship, and for that I am truly sorry."

The crowd began to shift uncomfortably. Mentally I screamed at Carlisle to get on with it, genuinely wishing (for what had to be the first time ever) that Edward was there so he could hear what I was trying to say and tell his father to get to the point. Unfortunately, Edward wasn't here. He was in Italy playing house with my wife while I was here playing pack politics and trying to make nice with the neighbors.

"Immortality is both a blessing and a curse." Carlisle continued. "This year marks the 375th anniversary of my change. In that time, the world has changed and, I feel, is no longer a world in which I belong. In the past a vampire seeking death could petition the Volturi, as Edward did. The end would be both quick and merciful. Because of the ill will the Volturi continue to bear us, however, this is no longer an option for my family and myself.

"That being the case, I have spoken with Jacob about renegotiating the terms of our treaty." He hesitated, searching for the right words. "As part of that renegotiation he would be willing to offer that death to me and mine at the hands of the pack should it be deemed necessary without fear of reprisal."

A shroud of silence hung in the air while the crowd around the fire digested what he had said...and what he hadn't. Carlisle was asking for a quick death from the only ones who were more than able to give it to him. And more than willing, as a general rule, to take down a vampire.

But…

But this was Carlisle. Carlisle, who had invented the concept of the "vegetarian" vampire in the first place. Who had come to the house and sat up all night with Billy the first time he had pneumonia. Who had arranged for counseling for both Paul and Rachel after the twins were killed this past summer. Who had threatened to thrash Edward to within an inch of his life (his words, not mine) if anything happened to Bella while they were in Italy.

The thought of killing him, no matter how eager he was to die, left a bad taste in my mouth. And man, I never thought I'd be able to say that about a vampire.

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

Sam's voice was deep and certain, a gross contradiction to the mass of worms shredding my intestines to ribbons. This was why he'd been a good alpha. He'd always been able to make the hard decisions in the best interest of the pack, and with fewer vampires around there would be a lot fewer of us phasing. I could almost hear him thinking it. And with Carlisle and Esme gone, and Edward living overseas, the rest of the family wouldn't really have a reason to stay in Forks.

"I've given this a great deal of thought," the vampire replied, and I thought I saw his shoulders slump with relief. "It has been weighing on me for some time that our unnatural lifespan could lead to feelings of displacement."

"Is it your lifespan causing this feeling? Or your mate's death?"

Bless Sue for being able to ask what we'd all been thinking. For 374 years Carlisle had refused to ask the Volturi to end his-life? existence?- when it had been an option. He'd thanked Bella for preventing Edward from doing it when he'd thought she was dead. Carlisle had proven over and over again that he valued life in all of its forms, and it was impossible not to draw a connection between the quiet, withdrawn man who had replaced the warm, sociable physician we'd come to know and Esme's tragic death six months before.

"I would be lying if I said it wasn't a consideration," he said softly. "These feelings plagued me for over a century before I found Esme. She made the passing of years bearable. Now that she's gone…"

His voice broke, and I looked down at my feet to give him a moment of privacy. When I looked up Sam was standing in front of him, hands on his shoulders, gentle concern in his face. Carlisle's head was bowed, eyes fixed on the sand firmly in front of him-a gesture of submission and defeat he would have never have made only a year earlier.

"I understand your feelings. It's hard to watch the people we love get old and die, and there are fewer choices for your kind than for mine. But," he said when Carlisle would have spoken, "while I am sorry for your loss I can't help but feel like I'm talking to your grief, not you. And with that in mind, I can't endorse this decision."

"I understand."

Carlisle straightened up, meeting Sam's eyes before dipping his head in that Old World style I saw the guys use in all those stupid romance flicks Bella was so fond of. Seeing him like that, spine stiff, eyes straight ahead and completely devoid of emotion, it wasn't hard to see who he must have been all those centuries ago.

"I appreciate that," Sam said softly. "That said, I also appreciate that none of us were ever meant to live forever. I assume none of your children are willing?"

"I would not ask it of them."

"And we both know what will happen if you go to the Volturi."

Wry mirth was in the bleak smile that quirked Carlisle's lips.

"It is astonishing what our bodies can live through. The Volturi have turned the study into an art form."

"Understood. So I'm going to make you a deal. Wait another year, put a little more time between you and the death of your mate-Esme," he corrected when Carlisle's eyes flashed dangerously. "After waiting 375 years to die, surely another year won't make much difference one way or the other. If, after that year, you're still certain this is what you want to do I'll do it myself."

What? Damn it, this wasn't his decision to make, no matter how fervently I'd been wishing for this to be someone else's problem just a few short minutes before. I must have moved, because Sam stepped back, instinctively yielding dominance.

"My apologies Jacob. You're correct, I overstepped."

Damn it was good to be a wolf. Your wolf just sorta knew what your human brain had a tendency to forget. Well hell, if he was going to be big about it…

"It's all good. You're right." Standing up, I looked around the circle. "That's more than reasonable, I think. And after everything Carlisle's done for us it seems like we at least owe him this much. Does everyone else agree?"

There were a handful of smattered murmurings, a few disgruntled faces, but the majority nodded their heads. With both Sam and I backing him up, I hadn't expected anything else. The members of the pack sat, quiet and solemn. I knew they were all desperately glad they weren't the ones who were going to have to tear his head off. They knew Carlisle, relied on him. Which reminded me…

"Not to sound like a selfish jerk, but you're a lot more than just a pretty face around here Dr. Cullen."

"Jazmine is more that capable of taking my place. She lacks my experience but has a quick and ready mind. I've already begun drawing up the paperwork to transfer the clinic into her hands."

I nodded.

"In that case, we agree. One year. But if, after that time, you still wish to die I'd like to be the one to do it." Carlisle chuckled, and I heard a light burst of almost hysterical laughter behind me. Flushing, I muttered, "That's not what I meant. I think you're making a huge mistake. But it's not my decision to make, and if this is what you really want it just seems like…well, almost like I owe it to you to…"

Before I could wedge my foot any further in my mouth Carlisle laid his hands on my arms.

"I would consider it a great honor, Jacob, that my death be at your hands. Or claws, as the case may be."

The breath whooshed out of my lungs, grateful he'd understood. This was huge, and it just seemed like if a leader, and a good man, was going to die it should be at the hands of a friend. And after everything he'd done for our pack having that death delivered by the pack alpha was an act of respect he more than deserved.

That I was that pack alpha instead of Sam was a circumstance I was unfortunately going to live to regret.

Lost in thought, and the solemnity of the occasion, none of us noticed the quiet figures that slunk through the shadows at the fire's edge and disappeared into the woods.

_Meanwhile, in Italy…_

"She's here, my lord."

The man sitting at the head of room stared indolently at his fingernails. Stupid peasants. He'd known the girl was here almost the moment her feet had touched Italian soil. He just hadn't decided what he wanted to do about it yet. It may have been years, but the sting of humiliation was still fresh. And Carlisle…The betrayal at the hands of one of his own cut deep.

It was a humiliation they would pay dearly for, one way or another, and now that stupid girl had played right into his hands.

"Is that all you have for me?" he asked, bored.

The man's eyes widened. He had thought his news would be welcomed by the powerful Volturi, perhaps that he and his family would be rewarded. He hadn't counted on indifference.

"Yes, my lord," he stammered, confidence dissipating in front of the hawk-eyed, predatory stares of the men in front of him.

The man standing at Aro's right hand watched him with flat, dispassionate eyes. He had the look of a man who could squash the peasant like a bug with very little remorse. Or let him go. The figure quivering on the floor, all too aware of the hooded bodies closing in on him, had a feeling that this man, with his dark hair and dark eyes and unnaturally pale skin, did not truly care whether he lived or died so long as he no longer held up the workings of his court.

Aro was another story altogether. He may have appeared bored, studying the rings on the fingers of the white hands protruding from the old fashioned velour of his black bolero jacket, but his eyes flashed with fury. This was a man who did not tolerate being wronged. The news that Bella Black, nee Swan, was in Italy, with her children in tow and without the protection of her husband and his pack, should have been welcomed.

The peasant had a feeling he had just made a grievous mistake.

Glancing over to the guard on his left, Aro flicked his fingers. A pair of muscled guards with skin as pale as Aro's own appeared out of nowhere from the back of the huge courtroom, flanking him, catching his arms and pinning them behind his back.

There's a moment of clarity when you're facing your own death, followed by a moment of confusion in which you believe that somehow, if you just fight hard enough, you'll be able to escape the inescapable realization that the monsters are actually going to eat you and there's nothing you can do about it. The man fought as he'd never fought before, thrashing against the cold steel of the hands holding him back.

It was then that his executioner looked at him, really looked at him, for the first time. Fear transformed from an amorphous thing to a live wire in his belly. The eyes that pinned him down weren't dark, as he'd previously believed, but were in fact a blazing, unnatural red. The man on his right bent down, pulling his head back to expose the flesh of the neck for his hungry teeth. In that instant the peasant realized that every story he'd ever heard but dismissed about the Volturi and their unnatural origins were absolutely true. As teeth broke through flesh waves of flame flow edthrough his veins, burning while his life's blood poured out.

The last thing he saw before his eyes fluttered shut for the last time were the heads bent low, murmuring between themselves, the third seat conspicuously empty-a monument, and a reminder, of the only time the Volturi had ever been defeated by their enemies.

Had he known what they were saying in those last moments he would have realized that his nightmares had not even come close to the reality of the situation…and he would have been a lot more grateful to be allowed to die.

"What do you intend to do about the Swan girl?"

Marcus spoke softly, a waste, since most of the room had supernatural hearing as sharp as his own. Bella would have made an excellent addition to their entourage, but there were others. There were always others, with skills much more suited to their purpose than being able to block a vampire's powers.

In truth, he had always found Aro's obsession with the Swan girl ill-conceived and poorly thought out. But an obsession it was, one that had only gained fuel following Caius's death at the hands of the alpha wolf six years before. A madness burned in Aro's eyes now, one that caused Marcus no small amount of concern. That madness had started to prey on his mind, as so often happened to members of their kind that had lived too long. If it wasn't stopped it would spread, and Marcus would have to put him down like you would a rabid dog.

It would be such a waste.

"A plan is in the works, not only to take care of the luscious Mrs. Black but to bring down that whole rabble." At Marcus's look of surprise, he smiled. Marcus, always thinking so small. Why content themselves with Bella when they could take them all?

It was simply a matter of time, patience, and careful planning. They were the Volturi. Time was something they had plenty of, and as for the rest? It was only a matter of time before Bella and her mutt of a husband were crawling at his feet.


	2. Bella: Leaving Italy

**August**

**Bella**

The ominous ticking of the clock marked down my final minutes on Italy's golden shores. Slipping clothes into the giant suitcase on the bed, I fought down feelings of melancholy. We were going home. I hadn't seen Jacob since Jenny was born, and Billy was anxious to get back to Daddy. And me…

I was going to miss Italy, but of all the amazing things I'd seen since I got here the most beautiful had been the weeks Jacob had come to visit. Everything was just brighter when he was around. I'd been able to talk Carlisle into letting me take him down to the market and show him around, and even if I'd had to do it with an entourage of vampires from the seat of a stupid wheelchair the wonder in his face had made it all worth it. We were so coming back.

"You don't have to leave, you know."

The words were nonchalant, the meaning behind them anything but. With a sigh I looked over at Edward, who was staring intently down at the sleeping baby in his arms with unquestioning devotion stamped all over his face. Watching him with Jenny melted my heart. He was surprisingly good with her, staying up all hours of the night when she decided she didn't want any part of going to bed and strutting with her through the city like the proud papa he'd never get the chance to be.

Knowing that when he looked at Jenny he saw the child, and the family, that he'd lost any chance of having the day Carlisle decided to change him I forced my tone to be gentle when what I really wanted to do was scream.

"You know I'd like to stay, but I can't. Jacob's waiting." When he looked up at me, oceans of sadness in those big amber eyes, I added gently, "He's been patient long enough."

Edward looked back down at Jenny without saying a word, and I went back to packing. It wasn't the first time he'd asked me to stay. Ever since I'd bought my plane ticket home he'd been dancing around the subject, nonchalantly mentioning pre-schools in the neighborhood and going out of his way to point out how big the house was going to be when we weren't here. It had only gotten worse since the school I was teaching at had offered me a full time position for the following year, while I had no idea what I was going to do once I got back to Forks

"Mommy! Mommy!"

Billy tore into the room, Rosalie hot on his heels.

"Bad dog," she scolded playfully, laughing as she scooped him up in her arms and tossed him high in the air. "You were supposed to sit, not go running off the minute my back was turned."

"But that's what Tiggers do best," he said solemnly. "You said so yourself."

Impossible not to smile at the frighteningly pretty blonde beaming with love at the dark haired, mischievous toddler sporting his father's eyes…and his penchant for getting into trouble.

"That's what you get for opening your mouth Rose," said Edward. The corners of his lips were twitching dangerously. "Next you'll remind him that he can't bounce the bounce if he can't even pronounce the bounce, and it's going to be straight downhill from there."

Rosalie and I both groaned while Billy writhed in excitement. The Tigger Movie was his latest obsession, which would have been adorable if half his genetics didn't come from a pack of shapeshifting wolves that could have literally leaped tall buildings (okay, tall refrigerators) in a single bound if they put their mind to it. The little boy had been crashing into the furniture and off the chandeliers for months. The housekeepers were about to lose their minds.

Speaking of which…

"Senor Edward, so help me, if you get that boy going again I'm going to burn you at the stake myself. I just got done putting the living room back together after his little escapade this morning, and I am _not_ doing it again."

Francesca, the housekeeper's 18 year old daughter, had been my maid and de facto nanny ever since we arrived. Looking at her now, strings of dark hair falling out of her disheveled ponytail, her beautiful Italian skin flushed and gleaming with perspiration against the white cotton apron she'd pulled on that morning, I was pretty sure she was counting down the seconds until she could see the back of me.

"It's cute that you think that." Edward's voice was cool, but the smile he sent her was teasing. "Just think of it as practice for the day you marry Giovanni and have a pack of brats of your own hanging off your skirts."

She rolled her eyes, but walked over to blow affectionate raspberries on Billy's exposed belly before scooping him out of Rose's arms.

"The car will be here in 30 minutes, Senora," she said easily, bouncing the little boy in her arms. "The driver is running a bit late. Trouble with a tire, I believe. He called with his apologies and asked that I let you know."

"Thank you, Francesca."

With a quick curtsy (I don't know how she managed it without falling over, since Billy took the opportunity to do his very best swan dive to the ground) she stepped out of the room. Rosalie waltzed over and scooped Jenny out of Edward's arms.

"My turn."

Dancing and humming something I vaguely recognized as an Italian lullaby Rosalie waltzed out the door, leaving Edward and I alone in the room.

"Chessie's going to miss the little terror, whether she wants to admit it or not."

Edward flopped back, sprawling across the massive bed and propping his hands behind his head. More than once I'd slipped out of bed in the middle of the night to grab Billy or Jenny, just to keep the giant bed from swallowing me whole. It was ridiculous. Unless you were a wolf. Jacob had loved it.

Everything in this house was massive. Carlisle had built it over 200 years ago in the hope that sooner or later he'd have a family to share it with, and I think he got a bit carried away. Either that, or he was planning to adopt every orphan in Florence. Every member of the Cullen family, along with half the pack, could have fit inside the giant stone mansion with its hardwood floors, towering fireplaces and arched ceilings and not even caught sight of each other for weeks.

I'd gotten lost every night for the first week just trying to get from my room to the front door before I finally made Jasper draw me a map. Emmett and Alice thought it was hilarious, but Jasper had just smiled good-naturedly and asked for a piece of paper. Just one more reason Jasper was now, officially, my favorite brother.

I was so grateful to still have the Cullens in my life, even if I wasn't dating Edward any more. Rosalie, Emmett, Alice and Jasper had gone out of their way to show me every hidey-hole, nook and cranny in Florence, right down to this little hole in the wall restaurant that looked like it was going to fall down on your head any minute and made the best pasta in Italy. Or so they claimed. I was certainly willing to believe them, although Bianca, Francesca's mother, had certainly given them a run for their money. It was a wonder I wasn't big as a house with all the food the woman had fed me since I got here.

"Didn't 'Chessie' promise to punch you in the face if she heard you call her that one more time?"

"Yes, well, we all know how that ends, don't we?" He looked meaningfully at the hand I'd busted on Jacob's face when we were kids. "Besides, she talks big, but I've known Francesca since she was just a blob of drool in tiny little pigtails teething on Carlisle's fingers. She'd never actually do anything. I know it, and she knows I know it, so it makes arguments like those incredibly pointless."

"Oh, of course. What was I thinking?"

Rolling my eyes, I stuffed another shirt in the bag. Good grief, how much had I bought since we'd been here? I know this all fit before we left. Maybe if I just pushed a little harder…

"I still love you, Bella."

Good grief.

"No you don't, Edward." The words were almost absent-minded as I contemplated the logistics of getting my suitcase to close. "You just think you do. We've already talked about this, remember? If we got back together, and I actually stayed, you'd want to kill me before the year was out. And I don't mean in that 'turn me into a vampire so we can spend the rest of eternity together' kind of way." Giving up (I was going to need Emmett to smash the darn thing together), I looked over at him and smiled. "You're just upset that I'm taking your favorite playmates back to the States with me, and you're trying to figure out how to stop it from happening."

It was impossible to tell what he was thinking in that moment, staring up at me with hooded, carefully guarded eyes. I hated that I couldn't read his mind. Then again, maybe it was better that way. He'd said those words to me before, a couple of months after I'd arrived. We'd actually sat down and talked about it then, with me reminding him of all the ways I'd changed since we were together…god, what was it, 6, 7 years now? I'd joked that now that I was pushing 30 I was one of those obnoxious, independent American women he loved to hate. He'd pointed out that our relationship was technically illegal in the States anyway, since he was always going to be 17, and that was that.

Or so I'd thought. I really, really didn't want to think about it too hard. He'd been my friend, my very best friend, the whole time I was here, holding me when I'd fallen apart because I felt guilty about leaving Jacob behind and watching as I put myself back together in bits and pieces. When I left La Push I'd been a mess, sick and tired of being a wife and mother without having five minutes in a day left over to just be me.

I'd been horrified when I found out I was pregnant with Jenny. It was just one more stick on a camel's back that had broken a long, long time ago, and while some of that was undoubtedly due to the skanky succubus that had wreaked havoc in Forks last summer some of it was all me. Edward had listened, played Devil's advocate and willing sidekick in equal measure and helped me get my perspective back…even when I could literally hear him grinding his teeth because he thought I was being reckless.

He'd come a long way toward accepting me for the woman I'd become rather than the fine China doll he'd always seen me as when we were together, and while it was really selfish of me I didn't want to mess that up. I _liked_ having Edward in my life again. I'd missed him horribly those first years after we'd broken up, when he made sure to give me a nice, wide berth to keep from rubbing salt into wounds that were still far too fresh. We were friends now, and I'd play dumb as long as I needed to if that's what it took to keep it that way.

"Hey sis, time to rock and roll."

Emmett hustled into the room, Jasper and Alice hot on his heels. He quickly scooped up my suitcase, zipped it together (how the _hell_ did he do that?) and less than a second later all the luggage in the room had disappeared.

"Rose and Chessie are downstairs with the kids," he said, reaching over, grabbing my arm and all but dragging me out of the room. "The driver's downstairs. Time to get you back to Forks and that hairy husband of yours, eh?"

His hand on my arm hurt, but it was the rushed, flustered tone to his voice that really caught my attention. Nothing got to Emmett. Ever.

"Emmett, what's going on?"

"Not now, Bella."

Edward's sharp voice was unexpected enough to have me digging in my heels. Emmett simply tossed me over his shoulder and kept moving.

"The Volturi know you're here, Bella. They've put a price on your head."

The words made my blood run cold. Realistically, I'd known they were going to figure it out sooner or later. As August ticked into September, then October, then November, without a word from Aro or Marcus and not a member of their entourage in sight, we'd started to relax. The community was fiercely loyal to the Cullens. I'd been hoping that would be enough.

Apparently, I'd been wrong.

"Why put a price on her head? Why not come after her themselves?"

Emmett shrugged, jiggling my precarious perch.

"Your guess is as good as mine. Alice hasn't seen anything. All we know is what Senor Gustave told us when he arrived. There are people in town, and they're asking questions. The sooner we get Bella and the kids out of here, the better."

"Will she be safe on a plane? Even with all of us along, there's nothing any of us can do to protect her if the plane blows up in the air."

"Carlisle's arranged for a private flight." Rosalie appeared out of nowhere, Jenny still sound asleep in her arms. "Giovanni's flying in from Venice, scooping up Bella and taking off. No one will have time to tamper with the plane, and we have no reason not to trust him."

"Wait, Giovanni? Francesca's Giovanni?"

Rose grinned, but it looked strained. "That would be the one. He's been Carlisle's errand boy for years. Drove us all crazy. Looks like not killing him is finally going to pay off."

Okay Bella, breathe. The Volturi don't know you're leaving-you hope. You're surrounded by vampires, and if you can believe a third of what Francesca says Giovanni's a good man. There's no reason to think he'd sell you out.

"How much?"

"How much what?" Edward tipped his head to look at me, confused.

"How much is the price on my head? Five hundred Euros? A thousand?"

"Two million."

Wow. Two million Euros for little ol' me? I was kind of impressed. Guess I'd really managed to piss Aro off this time.

"Well," I said cheerfully, working up a smile when Emmett finally set me on my feet, "I guess there's no place like home."

_**A/N: Because this story takes place across at least two continents, possibly three, and features a lot of key players, we're going to be getting a lot of different viewpoints. Hopefully it won't be too hard to follow along. Thanks for reading! Max and David are up next. **_


	3. Max:Seattle:How It Began

**August**

_**Seattle**_

**Max**

Her name was Kara, and she fell down the stairs. And walked into a door. And tumbled off of her bike. A lot.

Wrapping another layer of ACE to splint the broken arm of the quiet, subdued seven year old sitting on the exam bed I had to stop myself from screaming at the man and woman standing behind her. This was the fifth time in the last six months I'd treated Kara, and I knew my colleagues had seen her three or four more. If these injuries were just an accident I'd eat a pack of alcohol wipes.

"Just about finished there doc?"

The rough, impatient voice behind me had me clamping down on the inside of my cheek until it bled. 'Bite your tongue, Max. Bite your tongue.'

"She's going to need to see an orthopedist tomorrow to get a cast put on this, Mr. Beckett. I imagine you know the drill by now."

The words came out a little sharper than I'd meant them to. Kara's father stepped closer, crowding my space. He was a big man, easily 6' 1" or 6' 2", towering over the timid, petite woman cowering in the corner with a toddler on her hip. Bulging muscles filled out the red flannel of his shirt and the harsh denim of his jeans, the kind of brawny physique that came from hauling logs instead of spending Saturdays at the gym. The sallow cast to his skin and the way he was starting to go soft around the middle told me he hit the bottle more than once in a while, a habit that went hand-in-hand with the mean shining out of his eyes.

"What was that, _Doctor_ Donovan?"

His snide tone, and the way he was all but standing on the heels of my favorite sneakers, were probably meant to be intimidating. He must have been terrifying if you were a second grader barely old enough to pour your own breakfast cereal, or a tiny woman who looked like you barely had the strength to hold up the little boy in your arms, but when you were 5' 11" and spent your free time keeping up with guys who could bench press a car without breaking a sweat he just wasn't that scary.

"Mr. Beckett, I'm going to need you to back up so I can finish wrapping your daughter's arm. Angie's making her an appointment with the same orthopedist that did her leg last time." Glancing up at the green eyes staring in wide-eyed disbelief from a small, sweet face, I forced a smile. "In the meantime, I have a few rules you're going to have to follow, okay Kara? No jumping on the bed or climbing the roof for the rest of the day. No monkey calasthenics either. In fact-and I don't suggest this very often, so you might want to take advantage of it while you have the chance-it would be good if you could go home, lay down on the couch and read a book or watch tv until bedtime.

"Mrs. Beckett," I said, deliberately directing the instructions at Kara's mother, "she's going to need to keep an ice pack on this arm. Wrapped in a towel, not directly on the skin."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw her mother wince, but I didn't have any sympathy to give her. The last time I'd told Kara's parents to ice the injury I'd wound up treating the little girl for frostbite. You didn't get that kind of injury from an ice pack. It was amazing how the little girl's parents somehow assumed that I'd managed to pick up an MD without taking basic anatomy. Someone had stuck the child in an ice bath and held her there well past the time she would have been screaming in agony.

I was willing to place bets on who.

With one last, forced smile for my tiny patient I gave Kara's mother a few last minute instructions, stuck a safety pin into the end of the bandage and doled out stickers sporting Dora the Explorer's smiling face to the tiny redhead and her tow-headed brother. I fought the urge to slip Mrs. Beckett another card for our area women's shelter. We'd made sure we'd given her one the last several times she'd come in, until the time her husband had seen and almost started a brawl in the hospital waiting room. She'd handed it back with a smile and assured me they were fine, but the lie had been written all over her face.

We'd report the incident, just like all the others, but I didn't have much hope that the state would yank the kids out of the house and put them in foster care where they belonged. The man behind me had apparently managed to sweet talk his way through his last 4 home visits from social services, and the overcrowded system was too overwhelmed to pursue it any farther. Sweet little Kara and Jeremy, the tiny toddler with the dark eyes staring in rapt fascination at the ceiling lights overhead, would simply slip through the cracks until their father did something violent enough to make them sit up and notice.

Hopefully it wouldn't be too late.

Frustration continued to gnaw at me through the rest of my shift, through the hour I spent digging a bullet out of a fisherman whose partner had been waving his rifle at the one who got away, the half hour I spent stitching up the hand of a construction worker whose hand had slipped while holding a drywall knife, and the endless litany of complaints from the hypochondriacs, the diabetics who couldn't be bothered to give up their daily Mac attack and the drug addicts who came in complaining their back hurt and looking for an easy fix.

By the time I crawled into my car at eight my head was pounding, my shoulders were aching, and I was ready to pick up the phone and request that my license be revoked. The twelve hours a week I spent in the ER at Virginia Mason were always an exercise in patience, tolerance and my ability not to slip and fall in the amount of bullshit people poured out at my feet. The peace and solitude of my office, then an hour or two in the lab before I went home to my empty apartment, sounded like pure heaven.

Pulling out of the parking lot, I saw a hooker snorting a line of coke give me a _look_ before she headed toward the hospital doors.

Don't worry sweetheart, I'll be back next week.

The warm glow of the Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute, my home away from home, stood out like a beacon against the strawberry sky. Dreaming about a cup of hot chocolate and the half pack of Girl Scout cookies I'd hidden in the top drawer of my desk where my nurses wouldn't find them, I walked through the doors of the Child Health Behavior and Development Research Center.

The blast of cold air spawned a blissful sigh, even though I'd only spent ten short minutes weaving through Seattle traffic in the blistering August heat. It's not the heat, it's the humidity my ass. Drinking it in, I waved to Marilyn. The bouncy receptionist, whose gregarious nature, blue eyes and Barbie doll curls hid an organizational streak that would have left Hitler running for cover, smiled back, then nodded down the hall.

"I was wondering when you were going to get here. Your friend has been waiting in your office for the past two hours. Since you're just getting here I'm going to be forced to make sure you haven't been possessed by aliens. Because I can't think of any other logical excuse that would have made you forget about _this_ guy. You weren't, were you? Kidnapped by aliens, that is?" Her eyes shone with playful anxiety. "If you think there might be an anal probe in there, I'm not going in after it…but I'm sure we could get Stepney up on the third floor to take a look."

We both shuddered in pure feminine revulsion. Augustus Stepney was a brilliant researcher that in the last decade had made huge strides in identifying and diagnosing the various autism disorders. He was also small, twitchy and, with his ginormous nose and pointy ears, bore an uncanny resemblance to your average sewer rat. Even if the future of Earth's security was at stake, there was no way I was letting that man probe for anything. Anywhere. Ever.

"Better get a move on." Marilyn smiled, nodded down the hall toward the lights and chatter coming out of what should have been my empty fortress of solitude. "I'm pretty sure you've got everyone on duty tonight down there."

Rolling my eyes, I headed down the hall. The noise levels rose, a high-pitched chorus of feminine giggles, and peeping inside I had to smile. Marilyn hadn't been exaggerating. From the number of people crammed elbow to arse inside my tiny office there was an excellent chance I was looking at every female member of the staff on duty that night, from the night nurses in the ward to our research staff to the administrative assistants who should have gone home hours ago. And they were all crammed inside a room that was barely big enough for two. Then a warm, rolling male laugh designed to woo any female between the ages of 1 and 100 rose over the crowd.

Shaking my head, I pushed my way past a pair of security guards who vaguely resembled Norwegian Vikings and headed directly toward the blonde head in the middle of the room.

"You know," I said loudly, pitching my voice to be heard over the mob, "I'm going to have to start firing some nurses for dereliction of duty if you keep dropping in on me like this."

Moans and a chorus of "Ohhhhh"'s rang through the room, but the mob got the hint. Even though I couldn't _really_ fire anybody (at least, I didn't think I could-I'd honestly never tried) they slowly filtered out until all that were left were me and the man sitting on the edge of my desk, shaking his head with a faux moue of disapproval.

"That was just plain mean, Maxine."

Laughing, I closed the door behind me, deliberately shutting out the audience that still lingered in the hallway.

"Maybe you haven't noticed, David dear, but you have a very disturbing effect on my staff. And by disturbing I mean I'm disturbed my team is sitting in here flirting instead taking care of our patients."

"They were just being friendly. After all, you did leave me sitting here for almost two hours. They were just being nice and keeping me company."

The sparkle in the chocolate brown eyes smiling over at me had me shaking my head, deliberately stepping around him and pulling open my top left drawer for the cookies I'd been dreaming about the whole ride over. It was impossible to tell whether he was being deliberately obtuse or if he actually believed the entire staff would have turned out to keep him company if he'd, say, been an 86 year old woman.

Dark hair with fresh streaks, strong cheeks and jaw and well-muscled shoulders, abs and thighs under the simple dress shirt and slacks made for an interesting mix of Native American hotness and bad boy surfer dude. I hadn't met a woman yet that hadn't tried to throw herself at his feet at least once.

David and I had developed an odd sort of friendship since we first met. He'd asked me out on what had to be the worst dinner date in human recorded history. David had spent the night alternating between flirting with me and pumping me for details about his ex, who just happened to be my best friend. By the time it was done we'd mutually agreed we were never, ever going to do that again, and we'd been friends ever since.

"Oh God, that's good." Closing my eyes, I let the sweet chocolate coconutty goodness burst across my tongue. I hadn't eaten in over 14 hours, and I was starving. "Sorry to keep you waiting. It's a good thing I decided to stop and put in a couple of hours, because I completely forgot you were coming. Got tied up in the ER over at VM."

"Ah." David smiled, slipping off my desk to ease into one of the soft leather chairs I kept for consults and the odd patient meeting that happened in my office rather than the conference room down the hall. "I thought it might be something like that. Everything go okay?"

Involuntarily, my face puckered up like I'd bit into a lemon. Or something much more nasty.

"They brought Kara in again today. Broken ulna, fractured growth plate."

The smile immediately faded into concern and carefully banked fury.

"Her father?"

Frowning, I dug in the desk drawer. Ah, there you are My Precious. Pulling out a can of Cola, I held it up with a flourish.

"Oh yeah. Problem is, they can't prove it. He's apparently really good at pulling the wool over their eyes when Social Services shows up. They've pulled the kids out for a few days here and there but haven't been able to build a case to put them in long-term foster care until Dad dries out. I don't know how he's getting away with it, but somehow he is."

Looking over, I waggled my eyebrows.

"Rumor has it Emmett's coming in tomorrow morning. I ought to see if he'll stop by and put the fear of God into the man. If the badge doesn't do it, the muscles and that certain je ne sais quoi of his ought to do the trick."

David snorted.

"It's not that indefinable, you know. The man practically screams 'if you don't do this my way I'm going to introduce you to a whole new world of pain'. Besides, you know just as well as I do that the only thing he's going to do is get pissed off and take it out on his wife and the kids. That's what guys like that do. They beat up on anyone smaller than them when they feel like someone's threatening their masculinity. Prove their worth, and all that. It would just make things worse."

Flashes of memory shot through my head. A man with black hair and dark eyes standing there, fists raised, punching holes in the drywall. A woman with blonde hair and one blue eye, one black and swollen, hanging onto his arm and begging him to stop until he backhands her across the room. A little girl, curled up behind the couch, trying to be invisible so no one will remember that she told the truth to the nice lady with the kind eyes who had given her a lollipop. Oh yes, that's exactly what his type would do.

"Listen, there's nothing you can do for her right now. Why don't we get out of here? I have to head back down tomorrow morning, and I distinctly remember someone promising to feed me first."

Looking pointedly at the wrapper in my hand, he smiled. I shrugged. A lesser woman might have been embarrassed to have the good looking guy in front of me make a comment about her eating habits, but I'd never been lumped into that group. Besides, it wasn't like he'd never seen me kill a pizza by myself before.

"The busy doctor's dinner of champions. I'm starving."

"Let's hit the road."

Standing up, he yanked open the door (which was barely a full arm's length from my desk-I really needed to see about getting that corner office) and held out his arm with a flourish. We'd barely taken two steps when Marilyn popped up.

"Heading out?" she asked innocently. "I was hoping you and your charming friend might be interested in joining us for a couple of drinks down at Smokey's."

"Ha!" David looked at me and grinned. "See Max, I told you. Some women actually think I'm charming."

"Some women don't know you," I said dryly, "although if I know you that number's getting smaller by the day. We're headed to Jem's, Marilyn. You'll be able to catch me there if something pops up."

"Ah." Her face fell. "Well, in that case, I'm also supposed to tell you Jack called. He said he's sorry, he's going to have to cancel for tomorrow night and you should give him a call."

A smile tugged at my lips. Truthfully, I hadn't even bothered to make the dinner reservations for my date for the following night. Jack Turner, the architect I was sort of seeing, had a reputation for canceling dates on days ending with –y. I'd expected him to bail.

Probably not a sign of a particularly healthy relationship, but what were you going to do about it, right? It worked. For now.

"Doesn't surprise me. I'll give him a call when I get home. Thanks for letting me know."

She looked like she wanted to ask me some more questions, but I grabbed David's arm and pushed past her. She'd take at least another hour to finish coming up with reasons for us to stick around, and I was starving.

"Oh, Max!"

I couldn't help the groan.

"Yes?"

"Dr. Cullen called for you earlier. Asked for you to give him a call back when you got a chance."

"I see." I forced myself to ignore the quick flutter of excitement and the nearly overwhelming urge to grab my cell phone and start dialing. Whenever Dr. C called it always promised to be…interesting. "You know, I do have a message pad for this sort of thing."

"You know, you actually have to _check_ that message pad before it'll actually work."

She arched her eyebrows, then slipped back behind her desk. Her point. I never remembered to check my messages, which was probably why people finally stopped leaving them for me. Anyone important enough to need me right away knew where to find me, and anyone that didn't know where to find me just wasn't that important. Everyone else would eventually get around to sticking it in an email.

"What's Carlisle want?" David asked as we stepped out into the balmy night air.

"I don't know David, I haven't asked," I said patiently. "I thought it would be rude to blow off you and Marilyn and call him right then and there. Which you already know, because you were right there. So your guess is as good as mine."

He shrugged. "Dunno. I just saw him yesterday. He didn't say anything to me."

"Yeah, speaking of which. What _are _you doing in Seattle?"

"Dad had a stack of supplies for Jaz and needed a delivery boy. I took the job and figured since I was up this way anyway I'd stop by and see my favorite psychopath."

Stopping, I looked him up and down.

"What?" he asked defensively.

"Looking for your usual black eye, dislocated joint or broken rib. You must have done something right this time."

Rolling his eyes, David grabbed my hand and gave it a none-too-gentle tug.

"Quil and I get along just fine. We just have a difference of opinion every once in a while."

"Right. Like the time you told Jaz she was a sell-out for deciding to stay in La Push and he broke your nose. Just a friendly little disagreement there."

"Hey, that was last summer. Way past the expiration date to crack on me about that one. Especially since Quil might have broken my nose, but I'm pretty sure Jazmine's responsible for the black eye. She's always had a sneaky right."

"Oh, of course."

To be fair I was probably picking on him a little bit more than I should have, but he had it coming. He'd been like a bear with a thorn in his paw for months after Jaz had turned him down and decided to stay with Quil in La Push, and Quil hadn't been the only one to catch the sharp side of his tongue. He'd come to terms with it. It had been over 10 years since he and Jaz had dated, for Pete's sake, and he'd been the one to leave her because he couldn't deal with the fact that she wanted to go to medical school. Idiot.

He'd apologized, and everyone had made a very tenuous peace. Didn't stop Quil from taking a swing at him any time he happened to stop by though, or me from giving him a hard time each and every time I had to help patch him back up.

David had loved Jaz, I didn't doubt that. But they had the same convoluted "first love" thing Bella and Edward were always running into face first. Just because you loved them then didn't mean you loved them now. I think after 10 years of regrets David was finally starting to figure that out.

"I know you're dying to give Cullen a call and find out what's going on. I can practically see the words 'David, would you excuse me for a second?' bubbling up on you lips," he said dryly when I would have argued. "Why don't you get that over with, then we'll head on over to Jem's?"

Rude? Yeah, probably, but he was right. I was dying to know what Carlisle was up to. He never just called to ask about the weather, which meant it had to either be a case he wanted to refer to me or something to do with Bella coming home.

Turned out the answer was hidden behind Door Number Two.

"Carlisle! What's up?"

Have you ever heard somebody roll their eyes on the other side of a cell phone?

"Hello to you too Maxine," he said smoothly. "There's been a change of plan. Bella ran into some trouble right before she left. I'm in town to meet them, but as they're not due in until morning I find myself with some time on my hands. I was wondering if I might be able to impose on your hospitality until then."

Translation: Carlisle was being a worrywart and checking out the situation in Seattle, and he needed a place to hang out in between. Well, that was easy enough.

"No problem. Party at Chez Donovan tonight. David's here too." I paused, glancing over at him and catching his barely perceptible nod. "We were just headed over to Jem's if you wanted to join us. Edward and Alice love it, I think it'll be right up your alley."

"That's the jazz club on 6th they're always talking about? The one with the giant Jamaican cook who threatened Emmett with a carving knife when he wouldn't eat the jambalaya?"

I laughed. "That's the one. We'll meet you there. Hey, does this mean I get to go with you to pick up Bella tomorrow morning?"

"Of course. I'm sure Bella would love to see you. She sent me pictures of the baby a few weeks ago. Jenny's growing fast."

The thought of a centuries-old vampire with an email address was just weird, but for someone who'd actually lived through the 17th century and the advent of the world as we know it Carlisle was fairly techno-savvy. It's amazing what you can learn when you don't need to sleep. Now if I could just convince him to share those amazing techno skills with the receptionists that handled our files and couldn't figure out how to log our patients into the computer…

"So I'll see you at Jem's then?"

"Sounds good. We'll see you there."

Anticipation put an extra bounce in my step after I disconnected the call. Bella'd been my best friend since we were clueless freshmen, hopelessly out of our depth and trying desperately to prove that we belonged. Of course, she'd also been trying to decide whether or not immortality was the way to go (something I hadn't realized at the time) and battling with the loss of her childhood friend and almost-lover (something I had). 10 years later immortality was out of the question, and she and Jacob had happily tied the knot, but she was still as adorably clueless as ever.

She was also a brand new mommy. I'd gotten to fly out with Jacob and Carlisle last spring when Jenny Rose had made her grand appearance. In between taking care of the baby and doing post-natal checks on mom I'd gotten to roam the countryside and eat_ way_ too many calories. And referee the endless squabbles between Edward, Bella's ex-boyfriend and the benefactor who had made her year in Italy a reality instead of an aimless pipe dream, and his sister Rosalie, who doted on Bella's children and who, after watching Edward fall apart while Bella was in labor, thought he was the biggest idiot that side of the Atlantic. And this one too.

I hadn't seen any of them since that week, Jacob included, and I was anxious to reconnect.

"Did I hear you say you had a date this evening?"

Rolling my eyes, I stopped at the hot red convertible that looked more like a toy than an actual car.

"That's tomorrow night, nosy. And no, if you were listening you 'd also know that date got canceled."

"Ah." Walking around to the passenger side, he smoothly opened the door. "Are condolences in order?"

"What do you mean?"

"Is it serious, or just dinner?"

Frowning, I stared at the car.

"Serious-ish? I don't know. We're not picking out china, but I'm not seeing anyone else either. You know, I had every intention of taking my own ride."

"That would be stupid, considering you're dead on your feet. I can drop you off to pick it up before I head out in the morning. And how serious is –ish?"

"None of your business," I groused. It was hard to argue when he was right, as much as I wanted to. My vision was already starting to blur around the edges, and the voice in my stomach demanding food was much louder than the voice in my head reminding me that driving downtown when you were tired wasn't a smart thing to do. Never a good sign. So I slipped him a mutinous glare that promised immediate retribution if he didn't find something better to talk about than my failed date, then slid into the passenger seat. Wisely saying nothing, David slipped behind the wheel and pulled out into traffic.

Parking in downtown Seattle sucked, as it always did, but the bouncer at the door recognized me from the ridiculous number of times I'd come here when the Cullens were in town. I suspected the hundred Emmett had slipped him our first trip (and the glowering looks he'd sent his way) had a great deal to do with it, but Pepe immediately ushered us into the club.

I wasn't surprised in the least to see Carlisle standing up, holding a chair at a table near the front.

"Maxine, David."

"Dr. C."

Breathing in a deep breath I smiled appreciatively, then slipped into the seat he was holding. It didn't matter what kind of day you were having, you always felt better the minute you stepped into Jem's. The air was thick with the redolent smell of jambalaya, sizzling steak and the beer that got tipped over at the end of a bar brawl at least once a night. The thick cigarette haze that had hung over the scarred wooden tables and covered booths was gone, a victim of Washington's politicians finally catching on to the fact that forcing patrons to suck second-hand smoke in a crowded club was a bad idea, but the lights were still dim enough to maintain that mysterious illusion that you'd somehow managed to step off of a 21st century street and straight into the days of Louis Armstrong.

The woman crooning into the mic onstage, a skinny brunette with dancing brown eyes, a head full of shoulder-length dreadlocks and a black blouse over a pair of jeans, smiled when she saw us come in. I lifted my hand in a quick, easy wave. Beside me, Carlisle arched an eyebrow.

"You seem to be popular around here."

"You'd be surprised to discover that I actually am liked and appreciated in certain circles." I was already burrowing through the menu for something that sounded like it would appeal. Oh sure, Jem made the best jambalaya this side of N'awlins. Didn't mean I shouldn't skim through to see what else they've added. Maybe grab an appetizer or three.

"Hey, that's what I said. You said they were full of crap." David was trying to sound hurt, but you could hear the laughter in his voice.

"I didn't say they were full of crap, I just said they didn't know you yet."

"It's not surprising at all. You're a very charming young woman." Carlisle looked around appreciatively. "This place is very similar to the clubs we frequented back when jazz was first born. I can see why you and the children like it here."

"Mmmmm." My mind was already too wrapped up in fantasies of a giant bowl of jambalaya, some corn bread and…wonder if I could talk Jem into tossing some of her tamales in the mix?...to pick my jaw up off the floor. I recognized the backhanded compliment for what it was, considering how often our mutual acquaintances complained about both my lack of charm and my lack of tact. It didn't bother me. Why beat around the bush when you could get right to the point? You got more done that way.

"Max!" The woman who had been up on stage slipped into the booth beside me, bottle of water in hand, sweat dripping down her face, just as our server showed up to take our order. After David and I ordered enough food to feed an army (I'm pretty sure she assumed Carlisle and I were sharing, a notion I didn't bother to disabuse her of. After the day I'd had I was good for it, and it certainly made Carlisle's life easier not to have to answer any questions about his eating habits out in public.) I turned toward her with a smile.

"Natalie. Sounding good up there."

"We're getting there. I recognize tall, dark and devastating over here," she said in an undertone, shooting a smile at David. "Who's the dish? And where are the other hunks you usually come in with?"

"Natalie, this is Carlisle Cullen. Dr. C, Natalie."

"A pleasure," said Carlisle, tuning in and holding out a hand with a warm smile. "You have a beautiful voice."

Natalie gaped.

"Cullen? Emmett and Alice's dad? _That_ Carlisle Cullen? No way," she said, turning to me and shaking her head emphatically so that the beads at the end of dreadlocks clicked out a merry tune. I had to laugh. That's what most people said when they found out Carlisle had not one, but five grown children when he barely looked old enough to be out of high school.

"Adopted," I said easily.

"Ah." She turned, scrutinized him up and down, then smiled. "I was sorry to hear about your wife. I had the pleasure of meeting her once, about two years ago when the…when your kids first started coming in here with Max. She was very sweet."

"Yes, she was."

Carlisle was smiling, but his eyes were haunted. I pulled Natalie off that topic of conversation as our food arrived, asking questions about the band and their summer schedule. She was a favorite at Jem's, with a thick, smoky voice that could send chills down your spine, and I often made time to come in after work if I knew she was going to be onstage. At 23, with a head full of dreams, a run-down apartment on the west side and a young husband who spent his days working at a computer firm and designed video games at night, Natalie was always full of stories, and she had all of us cracking up. All too soon she had to go back on, leaving the three of us chatting quietly about this, that and the other while David and I stuffed our faces. I'd just hit the bottom when the soft, crooning sound of an Etta James cover filled the room. Carlisle looked over at me and smiled.

"I haven't heard this song in years. Brings back memories. Esme used to love Etta James." He fell silent for a moment, then glanced over at David. "Do you mind if I steal Max for a dance?"

"Are you kidding?" David grinned. "I'll never forget the show you guys put on at Leah's wedding. I wouldn't miss this for the world."

My first instinct was to refuse-it had been a long day-but then I got a look at his face. The mixture of hope, loss and regret was impossible for me to resist. Carlisle asked for so little, really. It didn't seem like such a big thing to dance with him, even if it was just so he could relive a memory he'd had with his dead wife. Was that healthy? How the hell should I know? I wasn't a psychiatrist. But this was a gorgeous song, and my feet had already taken a beating. They could take a little more. I reached up and grabbed the hand he offered, letting him lead me out onto the dance floor.

**A/N: Can't help it, I love Max. She's as big of a smart ass as I am :)**

**For those of you who actually read Twilight, you're going to notice some differences in my explanation of vampire anatomy throughout the course of this story. That's because Meyer contradicted herself left, right and sideways when talking about them in the books. If their skin was like granite, how did Bella not break her teeth on Edward's lips or bruise herself up all to hell every time she threw herself at him? How did their skin ripple enough to pass for human when they smiled? Why did she "freeze" when lying on her bed with him, but she could snuggle up to him at school or make out with him outside? How did Carlisle manage to get a chromosome test when they can't draw blood and their saliva should have eaten through the machine? And how are vampires genetically similar enough to humans to fertilize a human egg, but vampire spermatazoa are able to survive at both ice cold temperatures and 98.6 degrees?**

**Not the only examples, or even the most obvious, but since I want to address some of the more glaring errors in the story I'm going to just say that from a biological, anatomical point of view, her logic isn't sound and because her logic isn't sound-even assuming mystical vampire mojo-I'm going to take the liberty of making some alterations and make things make sense. So if you get to a point where I'm talking about the vampires and you're like, "That's not what Meyer said!", that's because I firmly believe that if Meyer's vampires actually did exist, Meyer would be wrong. End of story. **


	4. Carlisle:Seattle:Finding Dracula

**August**

_**Seattle**_

**Carlisle**

I shouldn't have come.

Not to Seattle. The threat from the Volturi was very real, and that they were looking for Bella was…disturbing. Their network spanned all seven continents, and while Bella and Edward had seemed confident no one knew she was there I knew better. Aro had undoubtedly known where she was the minute she arrived.

The question was, if they wanted her, why wait until now? Bella had been there for a year, vulnerable inside the walls of a school ruled as much by politics as the desire to give the next generation a better education. This wasn't their usual modus operandi, and that worried me. Worried me enough that while I knew she was in good hands with Giovanni I'd wanted to connect with my network in Seattle to make sure she would be safe after her plane touched down.

I'd spent the past few hours calling any contact I'd ever had up and down the west coast. There were whispers, but word hadn't definitively traveled. Bella would be safe enough as long as she stayed with us at all times.

No, Seattle wasn't the problem. It was easy to get lost in the crowd, to drift aimlessly through the city without drawing unwanted attention. The problem was that I was here, now, with these people living a normal life in a world that, to me, would never feel normal again.

I could have spent the night wandering the streets. That's what I should have done. Probably would have done, had events not unfolded as they had. Throughout Seattle there are a number of safe houses where roaming vampires can go to get out of the sun. These safe houses are a carefully guarded secret, established by the Volturi centuries before and meticulously maintained through loyalty bred in fear. In turn, the humans who run them are protected. Justice was immediate and excruciatingly painful for any vampire who chose to test the bounds of that protection.

No one had done so in many years.

When we'd arrived decades ago I had made it a point to visit each of them personally. Most of the humans in charge were willing to trade information if the price was right, as long as it wasn't explicitly forbidden by their keepers. We'd met in a dark alley filled with boxes and the very worst of Seattle's underground element. The air had been so full of blood, gore and human filth, violence and despair forming a noxious miasma that clogged the nostrils and clung to the skin, that no one passing would have recognized my scent.

The man I met with I knew only as Bloody Bill. He was a man of little shame and less conscience, which was all I really needed to know. He had taken my money and told me what I needed to know while his compatriots, who lined the street, sized me up as a potential victim. Only the knowledge of what I was allowed me to leave physically unscathed.

These trips into the bowels of the city didn't usually bother me. They, like so many other distasteful things in this life, were a necessary part of the price for survival. This time was different. This time, as I was leaving, I'd seen her. A woman, little more than filthy skin and bones, the glassy look in her eyes and the stench of sex rolling off of her telling me she'd recently traded her body for that night's hit. But it was the lanky teen hunched over in the corner behind her, face flushed with shame, his hands filled with the remains of someone else's dinner he'd undoubtedly fished out of a garbage can somewhere, that caught and held my attention.

I thought about offering to help him, had even stepped forward to do so, when a man melted out of the shadows. His pug face was creased with scars, and he reeked of gun powder. Not even looking at the boy, he tossed him a greasy sack from a local fast food restaurant. The boy pounced on the food like a starving animal.

"You got a problem, bud?"

The challenge was there. The set of the jaw, the anger in the eyes, the squaring of the shoulder. His right hand twitched, almost involuntarily, near the handle of the gun he'd undoubtedly thought he'd concealed in his back pants pocket. The man was either buzzing on adrenaline and looking for a fight, or he knew what I was and was hoping for a quick end to his miserable existence. Either way, I was disinclined to oblige him, and so I simply walked away.

The entire affair had left me sick to my stomach. Every city had its slums, but it always broke my heart to see young lives wasted by chance and circumstance. The stink of the place, and the people in it, had clung to me long after I was gone. Calling Max had been an impulse, a need to connect with someone untouched by the hopelessness and despair of this life.

I'd had enough of that lately.

The trip to Seattle had been well-timed. I'd needed, desperately, to get away from the memories of Esme and the children that haunted the too-empty house. The daily routine I'd taken such comfort in was starting to wear on me. One of my younger patients had gotten a little too enthusiastic with my stethoscope earlier that morning. It wasn't necessary. Vampire hearing told me the little girl had pneumonia without any need for the accoutrements of my trade.

Normally I didn't care, and she knew it. But today it had been just another irritation on already raw nerves. I'd even caught myself snapping at Jazmine, just because she was whistling while she ran the instruments through the autoclave. The hurt bewilderment on her face made me feel as though I'd kicked a puppy, driving me into my office so as not to inflict my bad mood on anyone else.

The children were worried, when they weren't being angry. Dear Alice was the only one who truly held no resentment toward me over Esme's death. Emmett was still bitterly angry. Jasper, Edward and Rosalie tried not to be, but it didn't take Edward's particular talent to see it in their eyes when they looked at me. It had almost been a relief to send them to Italy so I would have some time to process these changes in my life.

And to make the decision to end it without them there to talk me out of it.

Jacob thought I was making a mistake. Perhaps he was right. Sam believed I was acting solely out of grief. He may have been right as well. The simple truth was, my life had been unbearably lonely long before Esme had walked into it, and it was unbearably lonely now that she was gone. The children had built their own lives, as children are supposed to do. I didn't blame them for that. It was the natural order of the world. Children grow up, grow apart. Even Jasper was now able to stand on his own, and while he wasn't going to be volunteering to run a blood bank any time soon he was perfectly comfortable moving through what passed for society in Forks.

My job was done, and I was tired. Tired of constantly being surrounded by hate and violence, tired of being feared, tired of spending my days trying to redeem myself for becoming what I was. Tired of being alone in a crowded room. Tired of adjusting to a constantly changing world. Had I been a little bit faster, or a little bit dumber, I would have died long before the car, the plane, the computer. The atomic bomb. Any of those things that were supposed to make life better but really just served to give humans another way to kill each other.

Melancholy had become my daily companion, one I was eager to shake off, if only for a little while. Catching Max's hand, I swayed along to the weepy music and enjoyed a moment of blessed, blessed peace. Neither David nor Maxine had asked me how I was, or even brought up Esme's death, since I'd arrived, but they weren't dancing around the subject either. They'd been content to keep the conversation in the present, and I had been content to let them. The song the young woman with the atrocious hairstyle was crooning was an old one, and the memories it brought back were happy ones. If I closed my eyes I could remember all too clearly dancing with Esme in a crowded pub in Boston the first time I'd heard it.

No, I shouldn't have come, but I was glad I had.

"All right, we've got 'Die Hard', 'Batman Returns', 'Serendipity' and 'When Harry Met Sally'."

The muffled voice was barely distinguishable-to the human ear, anyway. David's disgusted groan, on the other hand, required no effort at all to understand.

"Please god tell me you're not going to make me sit through another chick flick. I can't take it. And don't you have anything that's not, like, a million years old?"

"Yeah David, because I have so much time to sit around and watch TV that I bother buying new ones. Sorry. We could always watch 'The Lion King'. Or 'Pocahontas'. You did say she was hot last time you were here."

Max stuck out her tongue, a juvenile gesture that David answered with an equally juvenile sneer. Leaning back on Max's comfortable couch, I settled in to let the two of them argue it out. It was a pretty good bet that they weren't going to opt for Max's extensive Disney collection, although I'd been wrong before. Maxine claimed she kept the movies for when Bella and Billy came to visit. Since she'd forced me to sit through 'Kung Fu Panda' the last time I was there, I wasn't entirely convinced I believed her.

Tuning out the squabbling in the background, I took the time to study Max's apartment. It was comfortable, if a tad spartan. The silver mermaid lamp by the side of the couch was the only thing she had changed since the last time I'd been there, nearly eight months before. The hardwood floors and white walls were generic enough. The massive black suede foldout in the middle of the room was large enough to comfortably seat four…or two and a wolf. The equally massive flatscreen television Emmett was drooling over was mounted on the opposite wall, the low-slung black stand Maxine was currently rummaging through seated underneath to hold books, movies, a set of speakers attached to an iPod mount and a small collection of toys I assumed were meant to keep Billy from swinging off the ceiling fan.

Red and white pillows and area rugs added a hint of color to the room, for which I was intensely grateful. Max being Max, it wouldn't have surprised me to find out she'd painted the whole room black with a silver plated torture chamber in the back bedroom. Between a wardrobe that consisted primarily of black leather and lace and the piercings she's gleefully put in any available surface…well, let's just say I hadn't been sure what to expect the day Alice had dragged me over to help them haul up furniture from their latest shopping spree. I'd been pleasantly surprised to realize that whatever else you could say about Maxine, when it came to her living area she had taste.

The rest of the house was another story. The bedrooms were comfortable enough, with an end table, an armoire with shelves and red and black quilts in each room that Esme had sewn herself, but the bathrooms, kitchen and storage areas were functional at best. It was the house of a woman who spent most of her waking hours at work, a phenomenon I could easily identify with. If it hadn't been for Esme and the girls our house would have probably resembled a small, dark cave filled with books and videos and not much else when we first moved into the huge house on the edge of the woods. I'd been so busy setting up a practice and keeping hospital hours there wasn't time for much else, and goodness knew Emmett and Jasper didn't care.

"So, Carlisle, what do you think?"

Max was sitting on the floor staring at me expectantly, a DVD case in each hand.

"Dracula," I answered promptly.

She and David both burst out laughing.

"Somehow I knew you were going to say that. Ah well. I guess nobody does it like Leslie Nielsen, right?"

Grinning, Max popped in the popular parody that yes, even I had seen, grabbed the huge bowl of popcorn sitting on the floor at her feet and plopped down on the couch between David and I.

"Hey, what's up with the sweatshirt? It's like a million degrees outside."

Max experimentally poked at the thick thermal sweatshirt I'd grabbed earlier that night when she'd announced movie night after leaving Jem's.

"I am a vampire, Maxine. The temperature doesn't bother me. And the last time I was here you said you were going to ban me from your couch on grounds of…how did you put it…extreme cold-i-tude, remember? So," I waved down at the insignia on the breast, "sweatshirt, guaranteed to make sure I keep my cold to myself."

She frowned at me for a second, then laughed.

"Oh my god, that was like, November. I can't believe you remember that. And it was 26 degrees outside. It is now August, and the air conditioning in this godforsaken apartment building barely manages to keep us all from baking in our sleep. I think you'll be all right. In fact, I think David and I would both be grateful if you'd just go ahead and take it all off."

Rolling my eyes (she lived for the double entendre, solely, I suspected, to make me as uncomfortable as possible), I pulled off the shirt, folding it carefully on the back of her couch to a chorus of poorly muffled snickers.

"Better?"

"Oh yeah." The sound of the opening credits filled the room. With an impish grin Max grabbed a pillow, propped it on David's lap, kicked her feet up onto mine and made herself comfortable.

"Much, much better. So, let's talk about the supposed vampiric intolerance to direct sunlight."

David's groan could be heard all the way down the street.

Several hours later the aliens we'd been watching were nothing more than a blur of static on a blank screen and both of the children were fast asleep. Carefully sliding myself out from underneath Max's feet I swung her around so she wouldn't have a horrendous crick in her neck the next day. David was snoring like a chainsaw. I was going to have to make a point of checking him out before he left the following day.

Since he probably wouldn't take kindly to finding an otolaryngoscope down his throat while he slept, however, I was at loose ends. Something that could easily be solved with a couple of well placed phone calls. Glancing at the clock, I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and started to dial.

Sometimes, I wished I could sleep. Sleepers could dream, and in dreaming escape the harsh reality of life outside of the ideology of their subconscious. It had been centuries since I slept. No one really knew why vampires didn't sleep, although it could theoretically be traced back to the differences in vampire metabolism. It would make for an interesting study, even if that study never saw the light of day. Hmmm. I'd have to talk to the girls, see what they thought.

You would think that the days would be nearly endless without sleep to make 1/3 of them disappear into unconsciousness. You would be wrong. I had just finished the last of my calls (for which I was extremely grateful) when Max came stumbling into the kitchen.

"Carlisle. Tell me you made coffee."

The pleading tone in her voice made me laugh.

"No, I didn't. But I'd be happy to if you'd like."

"No, 's okay. I got it. You never put in enough caffeine."

"That's because one's coffee is meant to be consumed in liquid form, not chewed," I said dryly.

"Lies." Staggering over to the coffee maker in the corner she filled the water chamber, measured out the coffee with slow, deliberate movements and pushed the button with a flourish. "Voila!"

"Well done."

"Watch out, Julia Childs." Flopping down at the table, she plopped her head in her arms. "What time is it?"

A quick glance at the clock made me grimace. She would not be pleased.

"Shortly after five."

"Ooooohhhh." She moaned piteously. It was a constant source of amusement that she'd actually managed to share a room with Jazmine all through college. The child redefined the phrase 'morning person', making me wonder how on earth the two women had shared living space without trying to kill each other. "I'd ask why you were up, but that would be a dumb question. Better one: Why am I up?"

"The beauty of the sunrise? The fresh tingle in the air of a bright new day?" The one-eyed, baleful look she slanted across the top of her arm could have peeled the paint off the walls. "How about the fact that it's twenty degrees cooler now than it will be this afternoon, and by the time you finish your coffee, get a shower and eat something it will be time to meet Bella at the airport?"

"Riiiiiiiiight, there's a reason you're here looking chipper at a disgustingly early hour of the morning. All right, let me go get cleaned up and…shit."

"What?"

"My car. It's still at the hospital. David was supposed to run me by and pick it up this morning, but…"

"I can drop you off on the way to the airport," I offered, surprised at her concern. "It's only a few blocks out of the way."

"You're a saint among men." Standing up, she leaned down and pressed a quick, warm kiss to my cheek. "Bless you. Let me go kick David off the couch and I'll hop in the shower. Hopefully by the time I get back the coffee will be done."

"You know, we don't have to leave yet. You could always let him sleep a little longer."

"And have him miss this beautiful sunrise? I wouldn't dream of it." With a devilish grin, she disappeared into the living room. A few seconds later I heard a curse, followed by a thud when a body hit the floor.

"Damn it Max!" Chuckling, I stood up and walked over to the window, ignoring the spirited argument taking place in the other room, the laughing shriek and the sound of footsteps pounding down the hallway and into the bathroom. The door slammed, the water kicked on and David came stumbling out in the kitchen. Coffee trauma, take two. At least no one was fighting over who was going to get the bathroom. I braced myself and turned around.

If you've never tried to get through security at Seattle-Tacoma to meet someone getting off of a flight, I don't recommend you start now. The airport was a zoo when Max and I walked through the front doors. There were people everywhere, and we'd no sooner started walking toward the gates than a burly security guard in airport blue came walking our way, face set in a sneer, the scent of anticipation hanging thick in the air saying louder than words that he was looking forward to being as obnoxious as he needed to be to get his point across.

Let the games begin.

He didn't get a chance. The guard hadn't taken two steps when two tall, muscular figures pushed past him and came jogging over to us.

"Max! Hey!"

Laughing, Jacob scooped her up and spun her around, then passed her to Quil and held out a respectful hand. "Carlisle."

"Jacob. It's good to see you. But what are you doing here?"

"Picking up my wife and kids. I got Sam to handle that thing," he explained when my eyebrows arched. "Said I would let them all fry if they stopped me from coming up here today. Sam seemed to think that was a bad idea, so here I am."

"Indeed you are. Quil." I nodded at the tall young man holding Maxine in a head lock. "It's good to see you. You haven't been around in a while."

"No offense Doc, but I can't see that as a bad thing."

"No Embry?" I asked, looking around in surprise. The three of them had been joined at the hip since Bella's departure the following summer. I hadn't expected to see any of them-Jacob had mentioned he had pack politics to take care of-but it was more surprising to see only two of them than to see none at all.

"Nah, we left him baby-sitting the shop." Quil grinned wickedly. "Rumor had it that Jeanette was bringing her car in today. We figured we'd let him play boss man and show off for a little bit."

"That was…unkind."

I tried for disapproving, but I was fairly sure I hadn't succeeded. Jeanette was a relative of the Newton's visiting for the summer, and her car had developed an unusual number of problems since she'd gotten to town. She took any opportunity to flirt shamelessly with all three wolves, often well past the point of propriety. Leaving shy Embry alone with her was like leading a sheep to the slaughter.

"Yeah, well, Andy doesn't have classes until this afternoon. We figured she'd save him if it got too bad." Jake smiled, but his eyes were troubled.

"Ah, I see." To pry, or not to pry? "Are the two of them still…?"

"Separated. Yeah. She's still pissed. Your girl did a number on her."

"Still can't believe no one killed that bitch when they had the chance," Max grumbled, yanking back and wrapping a companionable arm around Quil. "I know, I know, evil demon, would have brought the whole place down around our heads, etcetera, etcetera. I think it might have been worth it. But if we don't get a move on we're going to miss their flight. So who's going to explain to tall, dark and not-nearly-as-deadly-as-he-thinks-he-is that we need to get in and get a passenger off an incoming flight?"

"Taken care of." Jake nodded at the guard, who was now talking to a man in a suit. "I explained the situation to the head of security when I got here-or as much as I could. If anyone asks, the people after Bella are international terrorists with massive amounts of advanced weaponry. I had to convince the security guards that their handguns weren't going to do much good."

"And what are we, secret agents?" Quil asked, his eyes lighting up. "I want to be Agent Wolf."

"Oh, oh, I call dibs on Agent X," Jake crowed.

"Double-Oh-Deadly."

"Secret Agent Hairy."

"Canine Command."

"I want to be Agent C," said Max decisively, "because I "C" you're both complete idiots. Let's go."


	5. Bella: Are We There Yet?

**August**

**On a Plane. Somewhere Between Italy and Seattle.**

**Bella**

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

The steady, cheerful, unrelenting chorus from the seat next to me had me grinding my teeth.

'Taking my four year old on a 16 hour plane ride was my bright idea," I reminded myself grimly. Dr. Spock said traveling was good for children. He forgot to mention that flying with children was a mental health hazard to the adults the FAA said had to come along with them.

Thank heaven Giovanni had been the one to pick us up. I was pretty sure your average commercial pilot would have asked us to get out at 2,000 feet-preferably _without_ a parachute. Billy had (literally) been bouncing off the walls, climbing over the seats, doing cartwheels up and down the aisle and generally making a nuisance of himself since we took off. He was getting away with it because we were the only people on the gosh darned plane, but if he didn't knock it off soon I was going to be tempted to hand him over to Jake and get back on the plane for a little bit of peace and quiet when we got to Seattle.

Turning to the red-shirted, blue jeaned pre-schooler gleefully bouncing on the airline regulation blue and yellow striped seat, I forced a smile to my face.

"We've still got a ways to go sweetie. Why don't you get out your new puzzle?"

"No." He pouted. "That's boring."

"Book?"

"No."

"Colors?"

"No." Suddenly his face lit up like the Fourth of July. "Uncle Emmett!" he called out. "Want to play my game?"

Emmett's head popped up over the seat in front of us.

"Hell…ah, heck yeah," he said, looking at me sheepishly. A second later Billy had been lifted up and onto Emmett's lap and the two of them were happily tromping Goombi and chasing down Princess Peach.

I should have been expecting it. Emmett hated to fly more than Billy did, and he was always looking for ways to entertain himself. Rolling my eyes, I flopped back in my seat.

"Does it ever end?" I asked Rose. The blonde, happily tucked in a seat across the aisle with Jenny snuggled up on her lap, shook her head with a laugh.

"Nope, never." Standing up, she slipped into the seat Billy had abandoned and grinned. "Esme used to say that boys never really grow up. Their toys just got more expensive. Just get used to it now."

With an exaggerated sigh I looked down at the napping baby. Unlike her brother, she'd been an angel this entire trip. Of course, that could have had something to do with the fact that every time she so much as squeaked there was another pair of hands waiting there to hold her. Spoiled much? She was going to be unbearable if she ever decided to get used to it.

I couldn't wait to get home to Jake and my "real" life, but even I had to admit it was going to be hard to give up all of the benefits of living with the Cullens. We'd all gotten spoiled to having a full complement of extra hands around when we needed them. When we got back to La Push it was going to be just me again, trying to keep up with both kids. I knew in theory I was more than capable-Emily did it all the time-but it was also a little bit intimidating.

"Are you nervous?"

Was there an ESP echo in here?

"About what?"

Rosalie shrugged.

"Going home, knowing the Volturi are looking for you. Seeing Jacob and…everyone…again after being gone for a year. I think I'd be terrified if I were in your shoes."

"Nah," I said, forcing as much bravado into my voice as I could. "Vampires trying to kill me. Edward and Jacob trying to kill each other. Just another day in the life of Bella Black."

"Oh jeez, are they still at it? Seriously?" Rosalie chuffed irritably, swinging a golden curl back out of her face. "It's been years, you'd think they'd have learned how to co-exist by now."

"Yeah, you would, wouldn't you?"

I trailed off, staring blankly at Jenny. While Billy was the spitten image of Jake, Jenny was a perfect blend of the two of us-a perfect expression of the way we loved each other, Jake had said, and despite the fact that it was incredibly cheesy I had to agree. She had my hair and eyes, Jake's tan skin and, somehow, his interminable patience. Which was nice when it came to her nighttime feedings, since she wasn't screaming her head off while I tried to put a bottle together, but I was sure it was going to be just as annoying on her as it was on her father when she grew up. Since she wasn't walking yet I had no idea how much of my lack of grace she was going to get. Billy's "wolfy" half had taken care of that with him. Hopefully it would on her too. Superhuman strength and speed coupled with my propensity for disaster…yikes.

When Edward looked at Jenny he had to see Jake, and the constant reminder of how things had ended between us. It baffled me that after all this time he would imagine he was still in love with me. I really, really hoped it was just the backlash of his last relationship, because I really couldn't deal with having to go through this all over again. Edward had been my first love. Jacob would be my last. I didn't want to live without either one of them, but if Edward hadn't given up on me after all this time I didn't know what to do. There was no mystical mojo tying us together, just his own stubborn refusal to give up and move on.

Jake was going to blow his top when I told him.

"I'm worried," said Rosalie abruptly. Her smile was gone, replaced by concern and just a smidgen of fear that seemed completely out of place on a face that waffled between serene and belligerent on any given day. "Emmett's still not doing well with the whole Esme thing, and the last time we saw Carlisle…it was rough. I'm afraid we're walking into one great big giant ticking time bomb."

"He doesn't still blame him for that, does he?"

The look she shot me said it all. Oh, good grief. Okay, granted, I hadn't been front and center for the entire affair the way Emmett had, but I was pretty sure there was no way Carlisle could have known that his ex-girlfriend, who just happened to be able to flash fry vampires with a single glance, was on the Volturi's payroll. I was also pretty sure he hadn't given her carte blanche to do whatever the hell she wanted with his mate.

By blaming Carlisle for his "mother's" death Emmett wasn't just being a child, he was being an idiot.

A cute idiot. Looking up, I couldn't help the laugh that came bursting out of my lips. Colin, Brady and Jasper had joined Emmett and Billy. The four massive men huddled over a little boy with a handheld video game were too adorable for words. Alice looked over at them, caught my eye and grinned.

'Boys and their toys', she mouthed. Then she looked over at Rosalie and her eyes glassed over. A vision? Here? Now? Alice's visions weren't always bad news, but when you had the evil dictators of the vampire world nipping at your heels it was hard not to jump to conclusions. Sick dread churned in my stomach, completely chasing away any semblance of amusement, when she frowned, slunk past the group raucously celebrating Bowser's ultimate demise and slid into Rose's empty seat.

"Hawaii is really sweet this time of year, but you can't leave," she said firmly. "You have to tell him."

Wait, what? Hawaii? Well, I guess if you were going to die there were worse places to do it, but…

"Tell who what?"

Rosalie's pretty face scrunched up in confusion. Glancing down at the baby, who had woken around and was staring around her with wide-eyed wonder, Alice smiled.

"You have to tell Emmett that it doesn't matter how mad he is at Carlisle, or how sweet the surf is in Hawaii. He can't leave."

"He's thinking about leaving?"

This wasn't about the Volturi? Tendrils of relief snaked through me. Maybe we weren't going to die after all. Then what she was saying sunk in. Emmett was actually mad enough at Carlisle to leave? I mean, in theory the Cullens had lived apart before, but it hadn't happened the entire time that I'd known them. I couldn't even imagine the Cullens without him, or Rose, since there was no chance he was going to leave without her.

Her sharp intake of breath, and the horror in her voice, said this was the first Rose had heard of any of this.

"He's almost certain of it. As soon as Bella and the kids are safe. He doesn't even want to be in the same part of the country as Carlisle right now. Rosie, you can't let him do it." The little Pixie reached over, stroked Jenny's cheek, then squeezed Rosalie's hand. "You've always wanted a family," she murmured. "Don't let Emmett screw it up."

"What?"

Rose frowned at Alice, the confusion on her face as brilliantly clear as the joy plastered across her sister's.

"It's a little fuzzy still, but you know how the future changes when you change your mind?" Alice asked. "Well, yours keeps changing. Sometimes I see you and Emmett in Hawaii, alone. Other times I see you here, with a houseful of kids. And they're all calling you mom. That's what you've always wanted, right? If you let Emmett leave, it's going to change everything."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." Alice was beaming now. "I get to be their favorite Aunt Alice, and we'll have birthday parties and Christmas pony rides and…" She stopped, her eyes glassing over a bit. "Bella's at least four or five years older than she is right now, so it won't be right away, but you're definitely in Forks. And it's definitely not going to happen if you let Emmett do what he's thinking about doing."

The silence was deafening. All Rosalie had ever wanted was a house full of kids. She loved Jenny, and Billy, and Sam Jr., and the rest of the wolf cubs who called the Cullen house their second home, but every once in a while she'd get this miserable, far-off look on her face and I knew, _knew_ she was cursing the jerk who'd taken that dream away from her.

She didn't ask, and Alice didn't tell. Me, I would have been plying Alice with questions right now, but I think Rosalie was afraid to do anything, anything at all to mess this up. Alice was rarely wrong about these kinds of things, once the decision had been made. Unless something pretty dramatic happened between now and then, this was going to be her second chance. Possibly her only chance.

Heaven help anyone, man, woman or vampire, that tried to get in her way.

The rest of the trip passed in silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts. Well, for us anyway. The men, on the other hand…

Charlie would have had a great time slapping out citations for encouraging the delinquency of a minor. Emmett and Colin were taking bets on a game of Donkey Kong, and Billy had thrown in a couple of Fruit Rollups he'd pilfered from my purse. High stakes, since they were his favorite snack. I know, I know, I probably should have put a stop to it. Were you supposed to teach your four year old how to gamble? On the other hand, he was entertained, and the voice of reason that occasionally made an appearance even in my screwed-up mind reminded me that I really, really didn't want to do anything to screw that up. What was a minor vice compared to a few hours of peace and quiet, anyway?

Every once in a while Emmett would pop his head over the seat and grin, only to slink back down in confusion when he found himself on the receiving end of Rosalie's "I'm going to rip off your arms and legs and scatter the pieces, then wait for them to crawl back together so I can do it all over again" face. I smothered my laughter. She already had that Mama Bear thing going on and the kids weren't even here yet. You had to feel sorry for Emmett, you really did, even if he was the dumbass who was planning to move without telling his wife first. Forewarned was forearmed. He was going to be the first husband in history to have a piece torn out of his hide the minute the word "Hawaii" even crept into the conversation.

It was raining when we landed in Seattle. Big surprise there, right? It was probably pouring in Forks. Billy, who I'd corralled as we were coming in to land, was happily counting his loot. The hand of nepotism had been at work, and my Fruit Rollup loving son was walking away with $65, a pack of gum, a roll of Lifesavers, a Bengals baseball cap, three pens and a chunk of black obsidian that had been polished to a shine. Emmett was gloating like a proud papa, hoisting the little boy onto his shoulders as soon as Giovanni cut off the seatbelt light, jogging down the stairs and across the tarmac to the doors leading into the terminal.

"Jacob's never going to let him travel with us again," chuckled Jasper, gathering up our carry-on luggage and reaching out to grab Alice's hand.

"Please. Knowing Jake, he'll probably send him out to…"

My voice trailed off when I looked out the window and saw the man in question standing on the tarmac, hands shoved in his pockets, a brilliant smile on his face. Water dripped from the ends of his short black hair down his cheeks, past his brilliant smile and onto the thin shirt and jean shorts that didn't do a thing to disguise the fact that my husband was positively yummy when he was soaking wet. It had been months since I'd seen him, and the sight of his broad, muscled shoulders, sculpted abs and lean legs outlined by the wet fabric made my mouth go dry.

Behind me Jasper shifted, then cleared his throat. Before my mind could wander too far into forbidden territory (at that moment, anyway, with our daughter in my arms, the rest of my family behind me and Jasper picking up on my lust like a rat sniffing for cheese) I grabbed the diaper bag, tucked Jenny against my chest, and raced down the stairs.

Or tried to. In true Bella form my foot skidded on the wet stairs about halfway down. Shit. Figures. Had to happen while I was holding the baby. I tucked Jenny against my chest, resigned, closed my eyes and braced for impact.

The crunch of bone on metal never came. Instead, I was cradled against a warm chest, sparkling brown eyes were smiling down at me…and my husband was laughing his ass off.

"Good to know some things never change, right?" I said, trying for cheerful to cover up my humiliation. Lord, you'd think I'd have outgrown this klutzy streak by now.

"Obviously," Jake drawled, hunching over to block the rain from soaking Jenny and jogging down to the bottom of the stairs. Without so much as a skid, damn his furry hide.

As soon as we hit the tarmac his hot, soft mouth was on mine and embarrassment went flying out the window. Right along with rational thought, because with lips like these my higher brain functions didn't stand a chance. Seven years together and man could still short-circuit my systems. Leaning into the kiss, and wriggling myself as close to his chest as I could get, I prayed to whatever god happened to be listening that that was never going to change.

We could have been standing there for minutes or hours, wrapped up in the intimacy of the rain and the sheer pleasure of being together again. Time? Completely irrelevant. The best I could give you is that by the time Jake reluctantly broke the kiss, closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to mine both of us were breathing hard, Jenny was starting to squirm and there wasn't another soul to be seen on the tarmac.

"Mmmmm, miss me much?"

"You have no idea," he muttered, pulling me tighter until you couldn't have wedged a piece of paper between us. "This has been the longest year of my life. Next time I'm just going to say no and handcuff you to the bed." Lifting his head far enough to look down into my eyes, he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Emmett already offered to loan me his."

"Sounds like my kind of punishment." We grinned at each other like idiots. Then it occurred to me we were still standing out in the rain when the smart people had already made for drier ground. "Um, Jake? You can let me go now."

"Never," he vowed, turning and heading for the doors. While the tone of his voice was playful there was something in his eyes that said he meant it. I really, really didn't deserve this man. Content, I tucked the baby in a little closer, rested my head on his shoulder and breathed in the sweet joy of finally being back where I belonged.

"'bout damn time. I thought you two were going to decide to swim home."

Emmett, standing in the terminal next to Alice and Jasper, flashed us a bright, toothy smile. Billy had made the jump from his shoulders to Carlisle's, who was listening in rapt fascination to something the little boy was telling him. From the parentally disapproving looks the blonde vampire was shooting Emmett's way, I had a feeling Billy wasn't leaving anything out. Quil, flanked by Brady and Colin, whooped.

"Hell's bells Bella, you look like a drowned rat. If you're not careful the Big Bad Wolf is going to come by and gobble you up by mistake."

"Sounds like fun."

Jake's devilish voice in my ear sent bolts of heat to places I'd barely thought about for the past year. Scowling at him disapprovingly, I wriggled out of one pair of arms only to find myself scooped up by another.

"It's about time you got back. I couldn't take any more of his moping around." Quil spun me around, arms squeezing so tight I was gasping for breath. His eyes sparkled with good-natured humor. "Of course, now that you're here it's not too late to change your mind. We could be on a plane on our way to the Caribbean by noon."

"Not if you want to keep that pretty face of yours, Ateara."

Quil grinned unrepentantly at his alpha, who was struggling to keep a smile off his own face.

"What's'a matta', Jake? Afraid I'm going to steal your girl?"

"Nah." Jake plucked me away from Quil and set me back on my feet. Taking Jenny out of my hands, he gave Quil a superior smile. "All I gotta do is tell Jaz you're making time with another woman. By the time she's done you won't have to worry about my girl. Or any other girl, for that matter."

"Ha ha, very funny," Quil said wryly, but I didn't miss the quick glance he shot around the terminal. "You, ah, wouldn't really tell her, would you?"

"In a heartbeat."

The flash of fear on his face made me laugh.

"So everything's working out with you and Jaz then?"

The last time I'd seen my best friend she'd been packing to go back to California and Quil had been nowhere to be found. I'd wanted to kill him at the time but, watching the lovesick look that slipped across his face, and remembering how deliriously happy Jaz had sounded the last time I'd talked to her, letting him live sounded like it had been the right choice after all.

"They're absolutely revolting together. It's adorable."

Wait, was that...? With a shriek I threw myself at the dark haired woman in the shockingly pink skirt.

"Max! What the hell are you doing here?"

We threw our arms around each other, shrieking and laughing and talking over each other the way only old friends can without feeling like complete idiots. I caught Giovanni's interested look over Jake's shoulder and couldn't help the quick roll of my eyes. What was it with men? They saw two women hugging each other and acted like it was all of their sexual fantasies come to life.

Max finally pulled away, eyes bright and suspiciously shiny.

"Dr. C gave me a buzz last night, told me you were coming into Seattle. I decided to tag along since, oh, I don't know, you were a whole _ten minutes _from my place and you didn't bother to tell me anything about it."

"Sorry," I said sheepishly. "Is Jaz here too?"

I searched the crowds for the petite redhead, disappointed when all I saw were a bunch of nameless strangers.

"No, Jazmine offered to mind the clinic today so I could be here to pick you up."

Carlisle. Breaking away from Max I raced over to the man standing there holding his honorary grandson, a man who'd been as much a father to me as my own since those first awkward days in Forks.

"Carlisle! I'm sorry. I was hoping you were going to be here. Did Charlie ride up with you?"

"No." He wrapped one arm around me and squeezed me tight. Burying my nose in his shirt I breathed in the familiar scents of vampire and antiseptic and something that smelled suspiciously like lavender soap. "I spoke to Charlie this morning. He said to tell you he had to work, but he and Sue were still expecting you all for dinner tonight."

Max turned to Carlisle with a frown.

"You talked to Charlie? When?"

"This morning, while you were sleeping." Reaching up, he affectionately scrubbed the black spikes of her hair before wrapping his arm back around me. "He was concerned about the…situation in Seattle. I let him know we had everything under control, which was when he asked me to make sure Bella remembered she'd promised to give him the chance to get acquainted with his newest grandchild tonight."

"Of course." It hadn't escaped my notice that the tall blonde had carefully distanced himself from the rest of his family. With a smile and a quick squeeze Carlisle passed Billy to me, then held a hand out to Jake.

"I'm glad you were able to make it. Have a safe trip home."

"You too. I imagine you'll get there before we do." Jake's warm grin melted my heart. These two had come a long way. I did have to wonder for a minute how Carlisle'd planned to get all of us home if Jake hadn't shown up, then shook my head at my own stupidity. They could all probably run from Seattle to Forks in the time it would have taken me to get there in my old truck.

"That depends on whether or not I allow Alice to drive."

"Don't think you get a choice there, Dr. C," said Max cheerfully. "She picked your pockets and made for the great outdoors ten minutes ago."

"She…" Carlisle patted his pockets, then groaned. "That little thief. She took my keys!"

"Kids these days." Max leaned over, gave me another warm hug and a kiss, then planted a kiss on Jacob's cheek. "Listen, I'm packed all this week, but I'll be down next weekend. Tell Jaz to break out the fatted calf and make us reservations at Plaza Jalisco. I want to hear everything."

Skipping to catch up, she and Carlisle headed off toward the parking lot. Soon it was just me, Billy, Jake…and Quil and Brady and Colin. Uh oh.

"Soooooo," I drawled, looking around. "Is everyone riding home with us?"

"That's the game plan." Jake's voice was easy, but there was strain on his face that hadn't been there before. "I figure if we travel together there's an excellent chance that you'll make it home safe and sound."

"Right, of course."

Translation: With that many wolves along there was no chance the big bad vampires were going to get their hands on the puny humans. I wanted to sigh-I'd been looking forward to getting some alone time with Jake-but common sense reminded me that even though Jake gave me more credit for being able to keep myself alive than Edward ever did, it was only natural for him to worry. There would be plenty of time to catch up when we got home. And since I was assuming he'd brought the truck we'd all be able to squeeze in easily enough.

As long as the guys didn't mind getting a bit wet. I didn't care how much I loved them all, I was more than willing to claim human to make sure I got the front seat on the ride home. Then I realized there was a face conspicuously missing.

"Jake, where's Embry?"

"Em? Well, he's, ah…" Hesitating, Jake looked over at Quil.

"Dude, might's well tell her now," he said cheerfully, doing his best to look innocent. My eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"See, the thing is, Embry's still sort of staying with us while he and Andy work things out, and Quil's been bunking at the house too, and…" Jake cleared his throat. "Well, you wanted to take down that wall between the kitchen and the living room, didn't you?"

Wall? Was he serious? Please tell me he wasn't serious. The sheepish look on his face, and Quil's conspicuous whistle, told me I could only wish the answer was no.

"Jacob Black, what the _hell_ did you do to my house?"


	6. Max: Broken Bones, Broken Dreams

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I've had a couple of people complain that things are moving a bit slow when compared to the other two stories, and that it's a little difficult to figure out what's going on. Bear with me! There's a lot of foundation to lay before this story's going to make any sense, and some of these tiny details are going to be really, really important later on, but we're going to be getting to the good stuff soon. **

**I also have to apologize for the delays between postings. Oddly enough, this story is insisting on writing itself backwards, which means that while I know perfectly well how it's going to flow from middle to end the beginning is still sorting itself out. But I promise, it's all going to be worth waiting for. **

**Now I'll shut up and get on with the show…**

**October**

**Forks**

**Max**

"You do realize that only you would manage to shatter your radius trying to karate chop a vampire, right?"

"Shut the fuck up Jaz. And it's Tae Kwon Do chop, not karate chop."

Jaz grinned unrepentantly down at me. She was shamelessly holding me prisoner in one of the exam rooms in the clinic while Dr. C made a couple of phone calls, but since the next thing she did after making that comment (and casting aspersions on my mother's character, which I wasn't entirely sure were uncalled for) was kick up the dose on my morphine I figured I'd let her live. The pain was already starting to make me sick to my stomach.

Pleasure and pain. Why did the two always have to go hand in hand?

The circumstances behind my current…circumstances…would have been amusing if they hadn't turned out the way they did. When you didn't have to sleep you had plenty of time to expand your horizons, and the Cullens had. In spades. It was through sheer dumb luck I'd discovered that Tae Kwon Do, and a number of other martial arts, was one of those horizons.

I'd studied for years, but none of the teachers I'd studied under had come anything close to any of the Cullens. So whenever I had the chance I took the opportunity to sneak down, see Bella and wrangle a lesson. Rosalie and Alice usually graciously ducked out, but Emmett, Jasper and Carlisle were more than willing to indulge me. That particular day had been Carlisle's turn. He'd walked me through the kata, but sparring with a vampire was pretty much a waste of time. It was more for his entertainment and the opportunity to correct my form with Nazi-like devotion than an opportunity to practice actual combat.

Until today, that is. Today I'd actually anticipated his moves, made the turn, brought up the block-and slammed into a vampire moving full speed. It would be a triumph if it didn't hurt so damn much.

"Hey. How are you doing?"

Both Jaz and I swiveled toward the unexpected voice. Bella stood awkwardly in the doorway, Jenny in one arm, Billy clinging to the other like a lifeline. The little boy had his thumb in his mouth, something Bella said he hadn't done in months, and was staring wide-eyed at the monitors surrounding the bed.

"Hey little man, check it out. They gave me the toys with all the lights and the buttons and the noise-you know, the ones your mom won't let you have." I was rewarded with a quick smile from Billy. "I'm high as a kite," I said cheerfully to Bella, enjoying the warm spread of the painkiller rolling through my body. "Everything's better with morphine. I'd share, but I think Dr. C might complain."

Bella rolled her eyes.

"If you're being a smart ass, you're going to be fine." Gently tugging on Billy's hand, she came over and plopped on the side of the bed. "From the look on Carlisle's face when he told me you were going to need surgery I expected you to be a little closer to death. I didn't realize you were just a wannabe trying to be me."

"Please." I snorted. "You broke your hand on a stationary object. That object just happened to be Jake's face. It'll be worth every one of those stupid pins they're going to have to put in, just for the sole pleasure of getting to gloat for the next 20 or 30 years that I actually landed a hit."

"Which wouldn't have happened if I'd been paying attention." Carlisle walked into the room, eyes solemn, still wearing the gi he'd pulled on for our lesson. I really had to ask Alice where she did her shopping, that was a seriously nice set of workout clothes.

"Of course not." I looked over at Jaz, feeling the happy, sloppy grin slip across my face. "Jaz, would Quil ever admit it if you kicked his ass?"

"Oh, absolutely." The redhead paused, then grinned. "But I'd have to get him naked first."

"Hmmm…" I eyeballed Dr. C with the most salacious leer I could work up. I'm pretty sure I heard him choke before walking over to fiddle with the morphine drip Jaz had just checked. "Yeah, you're right. No way in hell. Probably uses superglue to keep those clothes on."

My favorite blonde vampire closed his eyes (I'm pretty sure he was praying for patience) before opening them to frown sternly in my direction.

"Dr. Donovan, didn't anyone ever tell you it's not nice to make fun of a man holding a really big needle?"

I'm pretty sure there were flies lusting after the massive, gaping hole my mouth made when it fell open, but I just didn't have it in me to care. Pressing my hand to my heart, I stared in wide eyed wonder.

"Dr. C, did you just make a joke?"

Jaz grinned, walking over to scoop Billy up off the ground. "Don't sound so shocked, _Maxine. _It's been known to happen every once in a while, you know."

"Yeah, for a walking stiff he's a real laugh riot. Not." I grinned. "Hot damn, I'm going to have to sexually harass you more often. Might help loosen up the ice cubes you keep in that really gorgeous ass of yours."

I did mention I was high as a kite, right? As in, absolutely no control over the words coming out of my mouth? A small voice in the back of my mind reminded me I was going to die of embarrassment when I sobered up enough to regret this conversation. And if I didn't manage to find that regret all on my own my two best friends, who were doing their best not to crack up at the dumbfounded look stamped on Dr. C's face, were going to be happy to help. I wouldn't be able to show my face in Forks for _years. _

When he finally laughed, shaking his head at my drug induced stupidity instead of telling me to shut the hell up, I decided it would be worth it. He never laughed anymore. And he had a really hot smile. How had I never noticed he had a really hot smile before?

'Oh boy. Don't go there Max. Nothing good waiting down that road. How much morphine did Jaz slip in that IV anyway?'

"Well, you're going to have to find someone else to harass for a while. I called ahead to Port Angeles, they're expecting you. Dr. Jacobs is a friend, and an excellent orthopedic surgeon. He'll do what he can to put that arm of yours back together."

"Jacobs, Jacobs…" I squinted, trying to put a face to the name. "Is he the bald guy that grabbed my ass at the conference last year?"

"Probably," Jaz piped in. "He managed to cop a feel in the storage closet the last time I had hospital rounds. Grabbing for the gauze my butt."

"Butt!"

Jaz and I flinched, looking at each other with equal expressions of guilt. We'd forgotten Billy was in the room. Shit, Bella was going to kill us.

"Relax," she said dryly, laughing at our faces. "I promise, he hears a lot worse from Emmett. I think I'm going to get out of here before Max says anything else though. Morphine apparently doesn't do much to keep her already X-rated mouth anything resembling G."

"Awwww, don't leave," I whined. "It's more fun when you're here."

"Don't I know it." Smiling, Bella bent down to give me a hug. "But I have to drop Billy off with Rosalie and get going. I promised Jake I'd help him wade through the massive pile of paperwork on his desk so he can come home sometime before midnight tonight."

I pouted, then sighed. "All right, fine. For Jake." Resigning myself to the inevitable I gave her a firm, one-handed squeeze. Regardless of the amount of shit I gave her, it was great to have her back. "Remind that sexy assed husband of yours…wait, what did you do to deserve all the guys with great asses?"

"Karma's a bitch," she smirked. "Maybe if you spent a little less time trying to piss her off…"

"Yeah, whatever. If there was any justice in the world you'd be married to a frog. You forget, everyone else might suspect, but I _know_ what you did that summer."

Her face paled. "You wouldn't."

"Of course I would ducky. Just not right now. Anyway…" I racked my foggy brain. I'd had a point, damn it. It was in there somewhere. "Oh, yeah, remind that sexy assed husband of yours he promised to take a look at that rattle under my hood before I left. Keys are in my purse. I'll blackmail someone into coming down to pick it up."

"You're not going to be driving anytime soon," Jaz said nonchalantly, a look of perfect innocence on her face as she glanced down at my arm. "David's going to be here next weekend. I can have him bring it up."

Oh yeah. I'd forgotten about that. He'd told me that…yesterday? Maybe? Something about…something. Hell if I could remember.

"Think he'd mind?"

"Are you kidding me?" Jaz arched one eyebrow in disbelief. "He's been dying to get behind the wheel of that thing for _years._ It would be his personal wet dream."

"And get him out of your hair that much sooner?" I guessed, grinning when she flushed. "Tut tut Jazmine. Using my toy to bribe your ex into going away." Although she had a point. He'd been lusting over the snappy red convertible for as long as I'd known him. "All right, yeah, have him bring it up. Although the five million dollar question is, how am I supposed to get to Port Angeles?"

Jaz opened her mouth, but Carlisle cut her off before she could speak.

"I told Dr. Jacobs I would be the one bringing you up. I'd like to keep an eye on the surgery-and the surgeon."

His words could have been mistaken for professional interest, but the look on his face suggested it was a lot more personal than that.

"Awwww, Dr. C. You gonna make sure the big bad doctor keeps his hands to himself?"

I was trying for sarcastic, but I couldn't help being a little bit touched. It had been a very, very long time since anyone had worried about me enough to make sure some random man didn't...I couldn't help but wish…well, if wishes were horses, right?

"Something like that. I had something I wanted to talk to you about anyway, and this trip is as good a time as any."

"Um, Carlisle?" Bella glanced from one of us to the other, concern warring with amusement on her pale face. Really, with her fair skin, dark eyes and dark hair, she almost looked like a vampire herself. I couldn't help but wonder how much of a difference the change would really have made. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, she…ah…she's…"

She looked down at her son, at a loss for words. At least, at a loss for words that wouldn't get Billy kicked out of preschool if he ever repeated them. To my surprise Carlisle actually smirked.

"Under the influence?"

"Yeah, something like that."

He looked over at me, mischief sparkling in his eyes.

"I think my odds just improved drastically of getting her to say yes."

Barely an hour later I was settled into the back of Carlisle's comfortable Lincoln (the man had more cars than a used car dealership) speeding up the road toward the hospital in Port Angeles and the surgery I really, really wasn't looking forward to.

"You're keeping me drugged to keep me pliable, aren't you?" I asked, more for the sake of starting conversation than anything else. Truthfully, I was grateful they'd popped one last happy pill in me before putting me in the car. But Dr. C had been silent as the grave since we left, and it was driving me nuts. I had a feeling that without Jaz and Bella there as a buffer he was going to choke on his guilt for this one, and I was just feeling way too good about the whole thing to let that happen.

"Is that even possible?" He glanced up in the rearview mirror, mirth mingling with regret and a healthy dose of what almost looked like shame. "Pliable is never a word I'd associate with you, my dear. Obstinate, stubborn, brilliant, pig headed and quite remarkable, but never pliable."

"Awwww. You think I'm brilliant?"

The wry look on his face made me smile.

"Digging for compliments doesn't suit you, Maxine. You know perfectly well you're one of the brightest physicians I've ever had the pleasure of working with."

Wow. I wanted to say something smart, but I just couldn't kick my brain from dumbfounded to snarky. Sure, I knew he liked me well enough. Jaz and Bella were my best friends, after all. I'd have driven him nuts otherwise. And he'd always gone out of his way to make sure I felt welcome at the Cullen house. But that was personal. This…

I'd never actually said it, since it just wasn't my style, but I'd always been a little bit in awe of Carlisle. No, hell didn't just freeze over. It was just…he really was just that awesome. After 300 years of medicine the man knew _everything_. There wasn't a doctor on the east coast that hadn't sung his praises when I'd mentioned I'd roomed with his son's girlfriend in college, and the doctors on the west coast were always amazed when I mentioned I actually knew the man well enough to put my combat boots on his coffee table (which wasn't nearly as much fun now that Rosalie had stopped yelling at me about it).

What that whole endless garble of hero worship boiled down to was that a professional compliment left me feeling warm and fuzzy inside. Which meant it was definitely time to change the subject.

"So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about so badly you needed to break my arm and sneak me off to Port Angeles to do it?"

Crap. Stupid drugs. I saw his mouth tighten and his hands clench on the wheel and knew I'd hurt his feelings. Good grief. How on earth was I going to convince him this wasn't his fault?

"Aw, c'mon Dr. C, you're killing my buzz here. My fault, not yours, that it landed wrong and did this much damage."

Yeah, way to go Max. I wasn't especially good at motivational speeches at the best of times. These weren't the best of times. Sighing, I scooted and scooched until I had hauled myself into the passenger seat.

"Maxine, what are you doing? You're supposed to be…"

"Keeping my arm immobile, not lying in the back like a lump while you guilt trip yourself to eternity and back. I'm going to be _fine_ Carlisle, so knock it off."

We sat in silence for a couple of miles, Carlisle staring off into the distance, me carefully eying him to see how much of a buzzkill this ride was going to be. I liked him, I really did, but for someone eternally frozen at the ripe old age of 23 he took way too much responsibility for things he couldn't control. And he was always so serious about it. I think that was why I got such a kick out of poking fun at him as often as possible. Any time you could make him laugh-really laugh-instead of that pleasant smile he put on for patients and company you felt like you'd just struck gold. Especially lately.

I was starting to worry I'd pushed it too far, however, when he looked over at me and smiled.

"Do you know, I can probably count on one hand the number of times you've called me by my proper name instead of one of your ridiculous nicknames?"

"Hey, I thought I was doing okay with Dr. C. Beats the hell out of Dr. Fang. Or Dr. Drac. Or 'Your Mighty Bloodsucking Fiendness', which Bella and I decided should henceforth be exclusively reserved for Aro." I looked over at him innocently. "Would you _prefer_ I call you Carlisle?"

"Infinitely," he said dryly, "but I've long since given up hope that it's going to happen. You just can't help yourself."

Despite his wry tone of voice there was no real heat to the words. Smiling, I leaned over and rested my head on his shoulder.

"Nope. Can't do it. You're just going to have to get used to it. Besides, you like it and you know it."

He didn't say anything, but I could feel the laugh rumble in his chest. With a contented sigh I nestled in between his shoulder and the seat. It didn't take long for the combination of cool skin, damp heat, the steady rumble of the car and the effects of the drugs to lull me into sleep.

Vampires were vastly underrated as pillows. Thanks to that psycho writer who'd decided to blow Jake and Bella's story way out of proportion a couple of years ago, people walked around thinking that vampires were hard as marble and cold as ice. It was unbelievable that anyone actually believed that. Good grief, if that were the case Bella would have broken a tooth or ten on Edward's mouth years ago. Or caught frostbite from sharing a bed, which they'd done through most of our college career.

Sure, their skin was tougher than ours, but it was tough in the way that tensile plastic is tough. It's still smooth, still shifts and moves and bends with the muscle underneath. It's designed to let them pass for human while still being all but indestructible, and it makes them much, much more comfortable to lay on than Meyer's version. And their bodies run at a steady 45 degrees Farenheit, which feels frosty against toasty human skin, and downright frigid compared to a werewolf, but is hardly icicle worthy. While it wasn't pleasant when you were already freezing (like, say, sitting on a couch in the middle of November when your heater's on the fritz) it was actually fairly comfortable when it was 96 degrees in the shade.

'Of course, that wasn't the only thing she got wrong,' I thought sarcastically, yanking my imagination back before it wandered too far down roads I REALLY didn't want to visit. Vampire babies my ass. Did Meyer decide vamps were only packing venom in their eyes and their teeth while the rest of them was venom free? I'd nearly had a fit when I found out what Edward was, and what a risk he'd taken every time he'd kissed Bella. Vampire saliva was loaded with it. And since no one had invented a magic scrotum patch, so was vampire semen. (Emmett had had a great time giving me the sample for that one. I had to wonder how many pairs of pants he'd gone through when he and Rosalie…you know what? On second thought, no, I really didn't.)

Good grief, if she and Edward had ever had sex she'd have started the change before he'd even had a chance to get off. There's not a chance in hell she would have gotten knocked up. The difference between vampire DNA and human DNA might have been small, but it was enough to all but guarantee that even if she somehow didn't change (which was completely impossible), and if she somehow did conceive (which was completely improbable), the fetus would have been so dramatically malformed that she would have miscarried almost immediately.

Gullible idiots. But the myths lived on. A couple of weeks ago Jaz had drafted me to come to Forks to help give flu shots. (Ah, cold and flu season, how I hate you.) A woman walked into the waiting room, dressed to the nines, smelling like a French whorehouse, and asked to see Dr. Cullen. They were in his office for almost an hour, and when they stepped out…I swear, I've never seen a vampire so embarrassed in my life. It was glorious. She'd apparently offered him two million dollars to be her baby daddy and turn her after the fact. I laughed so hard when he told us that I nearly wet myself.

He, on the other hand, had been slightly less than amused.

"Max?"

Blinking my eyes open, I was surprised to see we were almost to Port Angeles. Shoot. Stupid drugs had knocked me out. Then I realized where, exactly, I'd been sleeping and groaned, pulling myself back over to my side of the car.

"Sorry Dr. C."

"Please, don't worry about it. I'm glad you were able to get some rest. I hated to wake you, but I did have something I wanted to talk to you about and I'm afraid we won't have any time once we get where we're going."

"Yeah, what's up?" Scrubbing my good hand across my face, I fought for sobriety. Or to avoid sobriety and go back to sleep. . It was an even toss up for which one I wanted more. The magic happy pill Carlisle had slipped me before we left had started to wear off, and my arm was seriously starting to hurt

"I'm planning to present Quil and Jazmine with tickets to a cruise in the Caribbean as an early Christmas gift. A last chance to get away before she takes over the responsibility of running the clinic. Jacob has already consented to giving Quil the time off, but I was hoping I could persuade you to help cover for Jazmine for the two weeks she'll be gone. Otherwise I'm afraid she'll come up with a million reasons why she shouldn't leave me alone over the holidays and stay firmly planted in Forks." He glanced at me, then flicked his eyes back to the road. "I don't know if you have any plans, but any assistance you could provide would be appreciated."

"So wait, she gets to spend her Christmas in the Caribbean and I get to spend it dealing with ear infections and strep throat? How is that fair?" I grumbled good naturedly, slouching down in my seat. Figures. Jaz would be lounging on the beach with her sexy hunk of a wolfman while I was glued to my stethoscope. In the snow. Where it's cold.

"It's not, and I completely understand if you want to turn me down." His eyes were on the road now, his voice serious. "I know I'm asking far more than I have a right to."

Like there was any chance I was going to say no. Jaz would kill me. She'd been dying to see the Caribbean for years but had never had the time or the money to go.

"Yeah, I like being able to walk, thanks." At his quizzical look, I smiled. "Jaz would break both my kneecaps faster than Tonya Harding if she found out she had a chance to cruise the islands and I screwed it up. Besides, spending the holidays with you guys sounds a hell of a lot better than what I'd be doing otherwise. But why are you turning the clinic over to Jaz? Are you leaving?"

Carlisle hesitated, then sighed. "It's been a very long year, Maxine. And Forks has a lot of memories, many of which I'd rather forget."

"So you're moving? Are you coming back?"

He shifted restlessly. "It's a very big universe. There's an excellent chance I'll see you again, but I can't promise it's going to be in Forks."

My stomach sank. He was leaving? Before I had time to dwell on it, however, he quickly changed the subject. "You said you'd rather be in Forks. What would you be doing for the holidays if I hadn't asked you to spend them here?"

"Ah yes. The Donovan family Christmas. Sitting at the picture perfect table in my foster mother's picture perfect house in D.C. trying to spend 48 hours pretending to be her picture perfect daughter." I waved my hand dismissively, shooing away the sympathy that immediately leapt into Carlisle's eyes. "It's painful to watch. I usually have to come home and eat a puppy or something-metaphorically speaking-just to remind myself I'm a human being and not one of the Stepford wives."

"Ah." He was quiet for a minute. "Please don't feel obligated to do this, Maxine. If you would like to spend the holidays with your family I'd be happy to make other arrangements."

Tears pricked my eyes at his thoughtful words. He didn't know, couldn't know, how much I hated going back there. Or that as far as I was concerned, by spending the holidays with the Cullens (and hitting up Bella and Emily for Christmas dinner) I was already going to be spending them with the only family that really mattered.

Instead of getting sappy and embarrassing both of us, however, I just laid back in the seat, closed my eyes and said simply, "I am."

"Maaaaax. Oh Maaaaax."

Blinking groggily, I stared up at the face floating over top of me. What the hell? Morphine hallucination? Nightmare? What the hell was Jack doing in Port Angeles?

"Hey sleepy head, about time you woke up." Smiling, the tall, brown haired, green eyed architect settled back into the chair by my bedside. "I was starting to worry."

"Jack?" I croaked. Ugh. Why did my throat feel like someone just dragged a piece of sandpaper down it? There was a styrofoam cup sitting by the side of the bed that I was willing to bet had something nice and cold in it. Reaching out, however, was easier said than done thanks to the thick red and black cast covering my left arm from the wrist to just below my shoulder.

Oh. Right. Broken arm. Surgery. That would explain why my throat was killing me and my head felt like someone had stuffed it full of cotton.

Plunking back on the pillow with a groan, I muttered, "Would you pass me the cup-thingy over there please."

"Of course."

Setting his arms on his knees and pushing up in one smooth motion Jack scooped up the cup, sat on the bed and tipped the straw between my lips.

I had to bite back a sigh as the cool liquid raced down my throat. We hadn't actually gone on a date in so long that I'd forgotten there was a reason I'd said yes in the first place, and that reason had everything to do with the way that man moved. We'd met on the jogging trail in the park near my house. I'd admired his stride, he'd admired my ass, and we'd gotten on swimmingly ever since. I know, not the most auspicious of beginnings, but somehow it worked.

A couple of years older than I was, Jack had the solid build of a construction worker and the soul of an artist. And a butt that looked great in a pair of blue jeans. Which he was sporting right now, along with a faded green t-shirt that brought out the bright green eyes flanking a nose that had been broken way more than once. His chin was covered in two days' worth of beard, which was almost unheard of for him, and his pants were coated in a light dusting of what smelled like sawdust.

"You look like a lumberjack."

"And you look like hell." He grinned down at me. "I did the design for one of the buildings downtown. The foreman asked me to oversee it. Apparently one of his guys-you remember Lance, don't you? From that party last spring?"

Nope, not a clue. I nodded agreeably.

"Anyway, Lance is seeing one of the ER nurses. Mentioned he'd seen you come in when he stopped by to see his girl. I came straight here. So I have a perfectly good excuse. What's yours?"

"I won."

"Riiiiiiiiiiight," he drawled. "Is this the part where you tell me I ought to see the other guy? Because the only person I saw coming in was you."

He obviously didn't believe me. All things considered, I probably wouldn't believe me either.

"Did you pass a blonde guy on your way in? Brown eyes, karate gi, ridiculously pale skin?"

"Yeah, now that you mention it. Dr. Something-Or-Other, right? Out in the hallway, talking to a couple of the nurses. He was the one who told me where to find you."

"Oh lord. Would you grab him and drag him in here before he starts a riot?" When he arched an eyebrow, I smiled. "That's my sparring partner. He's also newly single, and since most of the nurses here have been slobbering over him for years…"

"Gotchya." Jack started to stand up, then stopped. Sitting back on the bed he reached down, grabbed my good hand and pressed his lips to my cheek. "Missed you Max."

"You too," I said automatically, then was surprised to realize I'd actually meant it. He might not be the most reliable date, but Jack was always good for a good time. "Maybe when they spring me from this joint we can try for dinner." Raising my cast ruefully, I grumbled, "It's going to be at least a week before they clear me to go back to work. I'm going to have plenty of time."

He tipped his head to the side, studying me carefully. Then he stood up, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"I've got a better idea. Rumor has it there's a great Mexican place down the street. Why don't I plan on coming back later? It's gotta be better than anything they serve in here."

Oh. Mexican. Burritos and chimchangas and fajitas, oh my! My mouth was watering just thinking about it.

"You're such a tease. You're going to tempt me with food, then bail on me just to watch me writhe in misery trying to eat this glop they pass off as hospital food imagining the burrito that almost was. There's a camera stashed in here somewhere, isn't there?"

"Would I do that?" he asked, his face fairly dripping with innocence.

"In a New York minute. But you do it this time I'm going to have to hurt you."

"If the guy outside is any indication, I don't have anything to worry about. He didn't have a scratch on him." He chuckled when I swatted at him. "On the other hand, I've seen what happens when you don't eat. So Scout's honor, I'll be back at 6 with dinner in hand."

"You were never a Boy Scout."

"You're just going to have to take what you can get." Laughing, he bent to brush his lips across mine so quickly the kiss was over almost before it began. "I am glad you're okay. Catch you later."

"You too," I smiled as he turned to walk out of the room. The smile bloomed when I saw Carlisle standing, arms crossed, half hidden in the shadowy recesses of the doorway. "Hey! You escaped from Nurses Anonymous."

"I'm sorry?"

I nodded over at Jack.

"Jack said your fan club had you mobbed in the hallway."

Comprehension flicked across his face.

"Ah. A small group of colleagues I worked with in the ER. I don't know that fan club would necessarily be the right word."

He walked in, held out a hand to Jack.

"I don't believe I've had the pleasure."

"I'm sorry guys. I have no manners." I grinned when Carlisle arched an eyebrow. All right, so he knew me well enough that I probably didn't need to toss in the addendum. It was more for Jack's benefit than anything else. "Jack, Carlisle Cullen. Carlisle, Jack Turner."

"Mr. Turner."

"Dr. Cullen."

The two men shook hands, solemnly sizing each other up. Then Jack turned toward me, pointing his fingers like a used salesman.

"You. Me. Dinner. Later?"

"Later."

With a nod to Carlisle, he disappeared out the door.

"Friend of yours?" Carlisle asked, slipping gracefully into the seat Jack had abandoned just a few minutes before.

"Something like that." At his inquisitive look, I sighed. "We're…sort of seeing each other. He had a job here in Port Angeles, a mutual acquaintance mentioned he'd seen me come in, and that's all she wrote."

"Ah." He nodded, eyes flicking at the doorway. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking, about Jack, about any of this. I was surprised to realize that it mattered. Did I _want_ him to approve of Jack? I'd never given a damn what anyone thought about the guys I'd dated before.

Of course, I'd never brought any of them back to Forks before either. I was a little bit ashamed to realize that I'd always kept the two parts of my life carefully separate in that respect. I'd double dated with Rosalie and Alice a couple of times, when they'd all come up to Seattle, but that was it.

It wasn't intentional. Or maybe it was, and I just hadn't realized it. I'd always told myself that I'd just never met anyone that mattered enough to bring them home to meet the family. I hadn't planned on keeping them, so I'd never bothered to let them get that involved in my life. Nor had I made a point of integrating my family in Forks and La Push, or even among the Mojave, into my life in Seattle. When they came north I always made sure my schedule was clear. I thought I had been being considerate, but looking at Carlisle's face I was a little bit ashamed of that. Did they feel like I was shutting them out of my life? Or did any of them honestly care?

I didn't doubt Bella and Jaz would be by later, and if I knew Emily she'd send a pile of food up with one of them so I wouldn't have to cook when I got home. Impossible to keep them apart unless I kicked Jack out into the hallway, and that just seemed rude considering he was sticking around to see me instead of driving back. Like it or not, whether I'd planned it or not, Jack was there now.

The drugs started to weigh my eyelids back down. Dr. C leaned over, tucked the blankets up under my chin, then pressed a quick kiss to my forehead. The simple gesture, and the genuine tenderness I knew was behind it, made my eyes water. Maybe it wasn't just my boyfriends I'd been keeping to myself. Maybe it was this, this feeling of belonging, that I'd been trying to hide from the rest of the world. It was as if by keeping the Cullens and the pack away from the reality of my life, the reality of my past, I could pretend it didn't happen.

And as long as they didn't know who I'd been, or what I'd done to become who I was today, I could pretend for just a little bit longer that maybe I'd finally found someplace I belonged.

Now Jack was here. That wall I kept around this part of my life had already been breached, and I was afraid it was only a matter of time before it all came tumbling down. Irrational, I know, but I couldn't help feeling that giving up one secret was only the start to sending them all spilling out in a giant cloud of dust. And I was bitterly afraid of what was going to happen when the smoke cleared.

As I watched Carlisle walk away through heavy lids, things that had been clear cut and obvious suddenly weren't. I didn't like it. Not one little bit.


	7. Jake: Midnight Meetings

**Forks**

**2 Weeks Later**

**Jake**

"Have I mentioned how much I really, really love you?"

The gorgeous brunette in the tight jeans and v-neck blouse that showed just enough cleavage to have me thinking twice about my plans for the evening spun around and gave me the evil eye from my desk chair. The yellow glow from the antique desk lamp shone across her face, creating mysterious shadows that danced through chocolate eyes and across warm skin I knew as well as my own. In the hazy glow she was enchanting and enticing, the curve of her lips sending tremors through my stomach. Not for the first time that day I cursed the fact that I was getting dragged out in the middle of the night instead of getting to go home and fall asleep curled up next to my wife.

Especially when that wife tipped her head to the side, running her fingers through her hair and showing off the lacy black edge of a piece of underwear I was pretty sure I'd never seen her wear before. Maybe I could accidentally bump another button or two on her shirt. You know, just to be sure. Hate to be putting away laundry and not know who it belonged to…

"Yes, but now would be a really good time to remind me, since this is the third night this week I've been in here straightening out your mess instead of home, reading a book with my favorite little lapdog curled up at my feet."

"Lapdog?"

I straightened up from where I'd slouched against the office door, doing my best to look insulted while not giving away the fact that I'd been staring down her shirt and had only caught about half of what she just said. Hey, a guy might give up a few things when he owns a business, is raising two kids and running a pack, not to mention trying to keep up with three sisters, but just because we were rolling up on 7 years of marriage didn't mean I was going to let my wife get away with thinking I was all domesticated. Once that started, there was no going back.

"Please. Don't even try it." Bella's eyes glowed with amusement before shifting back to the pile of paperwork in front of her. "That big bad wolf routine of yours went out a long time ago. Everyone knows you're basically harmless."

Ouch.

"You think so." Stalking into the room I leaned over, setting my hands on my desk with a satisfying thunk. Bella could be a little bit sensitive from time to time about the fact that not very many of the members of our close circle of friends were 100% human (Emily, Max and Andy being the few exceptions) so I tried not to use my supernatural powers for evil. I really did. But when you tear vampires apart for a living (one you don't get paid for, but whatchya gonna do?) having a puny human call you harmless just…no. Nuh uh. So in the blink of a supernatural eye I reached over, swept her out of the chair and scooped her up into my arms.

"Jake! Damn it, put me down!"

She was shrieking loud enough that I was glad everyone else had gone home for the day, clinging and laughing with a smile so bright it could have lit up the night sky. Something inside me always went a little mushy we she did that, not just because I'd been stupid in love with the woman since before I knew what being in love really meant but also because not too long ago, she wouldn't have been laughing. She'd have told me to stop goofing off and let her get back to work. As hard as it had been to let her go, that year in Italy had done wonders for both her stress levels and her self esteem.

"Who's harmless now?" Growling down at her I backed up, bumping into the door and 'accidentally' flicking the lock. "Oops. My bad."

The love and first hints of lust on her face when she realized what I was doing sent a rush of liquid heat racing through me. Dipping my head, I just drank her in. Mouths locked in an intimate tango of dancing lips, tasting tongues and whispered, heated words we stumbled across the room, where I unceremoniously dropped her on the couch. A single twist closed the blinds that gave me full viewing access to the garage and voila!

"No witnesses now," I said, doing my best Bella Lugosi, "and nobody can hear you scream."

When I'd dropped Bella over here I really had planned on just spending some time snuggling up to my wife. Honest. Places to go, people to see, and so on and so forth. With her there looking rumpled on the couch, the windows blocking us from the eyes and ears of any humans who happened to come wandering in and a very clear understanding between Embry, Quil and I that I would be happy to kill them and turn them into throw rugs if they ran their mouths about anything they may have seen or heard after hours, temptation turned out to be too much to resist.

"Weren't you supposed to be meeting Carlisle and Eli tonight?" Bella asked, swatting my fingers away when I reached up to toy with the buttons on her blouse.

"Mmmm hmmm."

"You're going to be late."

"Mmmm hmmm."

"No, Jake, seriously." She giggled when I accidentally tickled the top of her belly. "You're going to be seriously late if you keep this up."

I looked up at her then, mouth curving into a wolfish grin. "I know."

She was right. By the time I finished with Bella and headed for La Push I was, indeed, very late (but it was oh, so worth it).

Everyone else was already there. Eli, the pack alpha from Jazmine's old tribe in the Mojave, stood next to Sam, David hovering at his shoulder. The old lobo was thin, lanky and didn't look old enough to drink, much sit at the top of a pack that was easily twice the size of ours. According to Jaz he hadn't lost a fight in over a century. I wasn't about to find out.

Eli looked over, nodded once, then went back to his conversation. Politics. Make nice with the neighbors, etc., etc. He and Sam had come to an agreement years before. They'd stay out of our business, we'd stay out of theirs. Until I'd met Jaz we hadn't even known the other pack existed. It seemed reasonable. And last summer had been the first time that agreement had been broken for the greater good.

Ever.

Unfortunately, he wasn't happy about the fact that his pack had gotten called in to clean up what he saw as Carlisle's mess, since it was the Volturi and his ex-girlfriend who caused all the trouble, and while he obviously still got along with Sam he wasn't fond of the fact that I, who had married Edward's ex-girlfriend and had a pretty good relationship with the rest of the Cullen clan, was now in charge.

The Cullens weren't even allowed on Mojave land, so it shouldn't have been a shock to find out that he fervently disagreed with the fact that I still endorsed the new treaty we'd made with Carlisle. The one that abolished boundary lines and made them a welcome part of our lives. The only good vampire is a dead vampire, etc, etc.

Jerk.

My eyes caught David's. He lifted his chin in hello, but stayed to listen to whatever Sam and Eli had to say. That was fine. I didn't need to dip my nose into their business; Sam would catch me up next time we phased. Which wasn't very frequently these days, come to think of it. Damn it, I was going to have to pick a new beta soon.

Now wasn't the time to think about picking a new beta though, or about how screwed up my living situation was at the moment with Embry underfoot (who was good in a fight, didn't piss me off on a daily basis and didn't lose his temper, making him the most logical choice for my new beta if he could ever get his personal life straightened out). I had other fish to fry, starting with why the hell I was out in the woods in the middle of the night instead of home making love to my wife.

"Carlisle!"

The blonde vampire immediately appeared out of the shadows, flanked by Alice on one side and Jasper on the other. So. We'd all (more or less) shown up with our seconds in tow. What the hell was going on?

Another shadow melted out of the trees behind Carlisle. What the fuck? He hadn't mentioned anything about bringing company. Whoever it was, they were all but hidden under the black cape that covered their face and dropped down to their toes, and they reeked of vampire and expensive shoe leather. Then he flipped back the hood of his cape and I found myself staring into a thin, pale face stretched tight across high, European cheekbones, olive skin framed by dark, curly hair…and bloody red jewels staring out at me where his eyes should have been.

Shit. Double shit.

I shifted between the new vampire and the others gathered around the campfire. Heat crawled up my spine and my hands started to shake. A low growl came from behind me, telling me that someone-probably Eli-had already phased. Damn it, I couldn't phase without Edward there to translate or I'd never know what was going on.

Now I understood why the Cullens had been putting some distance between themselves and the wolves. Sam and Eli were safe enough, as long as they didn't piss him off, but David was completely human. No sense in leaving him just lying around. Unless they planned on serving him up as an hors d'oeuvre.

It was a safe bet that Quil wouldn't mind. He'd probably offer to put the mustard on himself.

"Peace wolf, I mean you no harm." The vampire bowed low, making sure his head stayed below mine. Fucker was almost as tall as I was. "I am but the messenger."

"Demetri is a member of the Volturi army," said Carlisle calmly, his face smooth although his eyes were shooting rapidly from the new vamp to Eli and back again. "He brings news of an uprising in Volterra that will overthrow Volturi rule once and for all."

You could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed Carlisle's announcement. The only sounds I heard were the rustling of the dead leaves swirling in the evening breeze and the scamper of small feet racing through the forest floor, completely oblivious to the predators standing in their midst.

"That's correct," said Demitri finally, his head still bowed to the ground. "For many years now a small but growing rebellion has been broiling beneath the streets of Volterra. I believe with their help you could rid yourself of the Volturi threat to your family once and for all."

"Right. And Alice here is going to be President of These United States. I suppose you've got some beachfront property you'd like to sell me while you're at it, right?"

The vampire straightened, tipping his head to the side in confusion. "I don't understand."

"He's being facetious," said Alice quickly, stepping over to lay her hand on his arm. "He doesn't believe you're telling the truth."

"Ah, I see. You're wondering what I stand to gain by bringing you this news, si?"

"Basically, yeah. What happened? You weren't good enough, so Aro kicked you out?"

Demitri's eyes flashed with fury. I instinctively braced myself. It wouldn't be pretty, but if I was going down, he was going down with me. In the blink of an eye, however, the rage was gone, replaced with a cold indifference that was somehow more chilling than his anger had been. It was, I realized, the same look I saw on Sam right before he ripped your head off.

Oops.

"Well done, Alpha. You nearly provoked me into a fight, which I'm sure was your intention. But tell me, where will your precious Bella be without me here to save her, hmm?"

Oh, this was too much. Bad enough he was here breathing air on our land, and probably planning to feed somewhere between here and Seattle, since even vampires didn't usually decide to walk cross country before taking a swim in the Atlantic. Now he was bringing Bella into it? Hell no.

An arrogant smile slid across his face when I made the first lunge. Carlisle and Jasper were immediately there holding me back.

"Let me go," I snarled, pushing at their arms. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Sam, standing with his hand on David's shoulder, and Eli…where was Eli? There, in the trees, nothing but the whisper of a shadow. He was flanking the vamp so that if I decided to end Demitri's miserable existence we'd have the upper hand.

"Jacob!"

Carlisle's voice, saying something about hearing him out, was just a buzz, easily drowned out by the rushing blood in my ears and the steady haze of red that all but obscured my vision. I could already feel his bones crushing beneath my teeth. I just needed one good bite, that's all. Just one, and he'd never bother us again.

A second later a cold hand slapped me across the face hard enough to bring tears to my eyes..

"That was unnecessary, Jasper."

"Perhaps, but he's coming out of it."

Their voices still floated down a long tunnel.

"Jacob? Can you hear me? Jacob, he's here to help. Do you hear me? He's here to help."

I stared at Carlisle blindly until he came back into focus, then pulled my arms away from the vampires' grasp. My heart was still hammering, but the change had stopped climbing out of control. This time, they let me go. I stepped back toward Sam, shrugging off the hand he laid on my shoulder, and nodded to Eli. The disgruntled wolf slunk out of the woods, snapping his jaws at Demitri before coming to stand next to me.

"Fine. You want to talk, talk. And make it good, because next time," I looked down at Eli, who obligingly bared his teeth, "I'm not gonna hold him back."

"Thank you for that." Demitri looked more amused than scared. Stupid vampire.

"To be a member of the Volturi was once a great honor," Demitri said, his eyes going glassy, his voice lapsing into a storyteller's lilt. "We were the keepers of the peace. For centuries it was my job to track down our criminals and dispense justice, and I did it well."

"Hey, we met one of your kind around here last year. Crazy blonde bitch, went by the name Natalya. Got her jollies turning bad little vampires into crispy critters. Sound familiar?" I saw Carlisle flinch when I mentioned Natalya's name. Demitri just grinned.

"Amazing, isn't she? She has the most unique trait of making sure her victims always die happy. Pure pleasure to watch."

That was our girl. Sick fuck.

"Aro was displeased when he discovered Natalya had been lost to him. He cut a bloody swathe through the streets of Volterra that will be talked about for centuries. Which is why I'm here." Demitri turned to Carlisle. "The Volturi court is not as it was when you were there. Aro is…not well. He is obsessed with Bella to the point of madness and will, I believe, stop at nothing to have her, regardless of the cost to our people. Marcus is as he always is. He surrounds himself with books and music and the day-to-day workings of the court. Everything else falls to Aro, a role he is no longer fit to fill."

"You want Aro gone so you can get back to your glory days."

Jasper frowned at me with disapproval. I shrugged. What? I wasn't here to play nice with the bloodsucker. I was here to find out what he knew. Then I was going to go home, bar the doors, lock the windows, grab Billy and Jenny and wrap myself around my wife so I knew she was safe until we could bring these fuckers down once and for all.

"As you will." At least he had the decency not to argue with me about it. "I have been acting as a double agent, you might say, relaying information about the Volturi to the rebellion. Word has spread. There is talk of acting at Ferragosto. I believe that your family, Carlisle, and your shapeshifting allies will be the key to their success."

"Who will step up if the Volturi are defeated?"

Was Sam serious? I really didn't give a rat's ass who they picked to keep order in Vampireland after the Volturi went down. Couldn't possibly be any worse than what they had right now. Then I remembered Victoria and realized that yes, it could get worse. It could get a whole lot worse.

"Whoever defeats the Volturi will step into their shoes. It's how it is done. You didn't truly believe that Marcus, Aro and Caius had ruled since the beginning of time, did you?" he asked. Genuine surprise flickered in his eyes. "To be that which the thing you fear fears, you have to rule in blood. That's how the rule has passed down, century after century."

"That would put you in charge." Sam crossed his arms, taking a step back. Demitri laughed, a golden sound that rolled through the trees.

"Oh no, wolf, I have no patience for politics. As a tracker, I consider it my very great privilege to be away from the court for months at a time. That's how I was able to be here without alerting Aro," he said, anticipating my next question. "I had business up north. No, stepping into the role of the Volturi would fall to the leaders of the rebellion. Other members of the vampire nation with the desire to restore the title of Volturi to its former glory."

"By business you mean execution."

Demitri simply continued to smile. I guess I should have been a little more freaked out by someone who traveled around the world killing their own kind, but really? With all the pleasure I got out of killing vampires it seemed hypocritical to be upset because he enjoyed his job.

"If we agree to risk our lives to help you do this, an agreement must be reached first."

"Of course." Demitri reached into his coat and withdrew a document, rolled and tied like an Egyptian scroll. "I would expect nothing less. Those that would rule have already drawn up and signed a treaty between our people and yours. I trust you'll want to look it over before you make any decisions." He passed the scroll to Carlisle. "You should find everything in order. I'll expect your answer before the New Year."

Carlisle nodded. Demitri flipped the hood back over his face, melted back into the shadows, and just like that he was gone.

"Well that was…interesting." I frowned at Carlisle. "You might have mentioned that one of the Volturi was planning on dropping by this evening. I'd have busted out the good china."

"I apologize Jacob. Demitri contacted me several weeks ago but asked that I keep the timing and nature of his visit a secret lest the wrong person find out. This is the equivalent of treason under our laws. If Aro were to become aware of what he was doing…"

His voice trailed off, but his meaning was clear. Stay on Aro's good side and you could anticipate a nice, clean death. Piss him off and…well, let's just say it was amazing what the body, especially a vampire body, could live through.

"Can he be trusted?"

Eli had phased back and was standing with his hands slung in his back pockets. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

"What do you see, Alice?" Carlisle neatly ducked Eli's question. Slippery bastard. Alice sighed, then shook her head.

"I can't see the battle, but I wouldn't if the wolves were going to be there. I see…" She frowned, peering intently into a future none of the rest of us could see, then shook her head again. "There are too many variables. It's giving me a headache. I honestly don't know."

"Do we have any choice?" Everyone turned to look at me. "I mean, it's not like the Volturi are just going to go away. We have to do something. At least this way we'd have help with that something, whatever that something may be. It's worth the risk."

Sam nodded.

"I agree. Eli?"

The other alpha shifted uncomfortably. I knew how he felt. Taking a pack into Volterra was a little like walking into a bomb test site with a paper plate on your head and a target on your back. The odds of walking out alive were slim. But I'd walk to hell and back wearing nothing but a pair of boxers if it meant making sure the Volturi never got their hands on Bella, or the kids. It would be a lot easier if the Mojave pack would come along for the ride, but I could tell from the look on Carlisle's face that we were together on this one.

Whether Eli was in or not we were going to Italy whenever this Ferragosto thing was and kicking some vampire ass.

"I'll have to present this to the council," Eli said finally, shoulders slumped. "I don't have the authority to speak for all the alphas, but you're right. This isn't an opportunity we can afford to ignore."

"Of course." Carlisle nodded. "I'll make a copy of the proposed treaty and send it down with you. If you decide you wish to proceed, Jacob and I will travel to you and we can sign it together."

Politics. Paperwork. Bureaucracy. Unlike our pack, there were over a dozen alphas that took care of the various shapeshifters among the Mojave. Eli sat at the head of the wolf pack, but the cats and the coyotes and whatever else they had running around there at the moment would want the chance to read and sign for themselves.

"Will you be heading back to California right away?" Jasper asked politely.

Eli looked over at David, who smiled and rubbed his hands together gleefully. "Eli's heading back tomorrow. I told Max I'd bring her car up to Seattle for her."

Jasper let out a low, long whistle. "Don't suppose you'd say yes if I offered to take care of that for you?"

"Not a chance in hell, my friend." David slapped him on the shoulder. "I've been trying to talk her out of those keys forever."

"Almost as long as you've been trying to talk her out of her pants."

Alice rolled her eyes at me "How is Max?" she asked anxiously. "I haven't seen her since she got out of the hospital. We were going to give her a ride back to Seattle, but she said she had that taken care of."

I thought I saw David's smile get a little white around the edges, but it might have just been a trick of the fire.

"Yeah, I guess the guy she's seeing had a job in Port Angeles. He gave her a ride back up."

"Awww. How sweet." Alice beamed.

"Yeah, adorable."

Jasper arched an eyebrow. Alice's smile dimmed a bit, but she didn't say anything. David cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"You're, ah, welcome to come up with me if you want. She'd probably appreciate the company. Docs say it'll be at least another week before the swelling goes down enough for her to use that arm for anything other than looking pretty on top of a pile of pillows. That means work's out of the question, and she's going a little stir crazy."

"Oh, I wish." Alice hopped on her toes, the edges of her flyaway hair bouncing in the breeze. "This is the last weekend of good weather we're supposed to have for a while, which means it's all hands on deck."

"The campers will be coming out of the woodwork," explained Jasper, tossing his arm around her shoulders. "We're going to be busy."

That's right. I forgot sometimes that the Cullens were all gainfully employed now. Easy to see how, since they just spent a year in Europe and nobody said a word about it. Now that they were back Emmett had to report to Charlie at the police station (it was always interesting to see how that was working out-Emmett's disrespect for authority was legendary), Rosalie was single-handedly running the daycare for the pack she and Esme had started, and Alice and Jasper were the golden children of the forest department's search and rescue team.

None of us had to ask why. Finding a human lost in the woods was kind of like finding a hot dog at the fair. All they had to do was follow their nose.

"Next time?"

"Definitely."

After a quick round of goodbyes the Cullens headed home, Eli and David headed for Jaz's house and Sam and I started jogging back to La Push. The sun was just starting to break through the trees, which meant Jenny was probably up, which meant if I played my cards right I could talk Bella into breakfast before I passed out. Real food was going to be a necessity if I was going to have to listen to Quil bitch and moan all day about Eli and David being in town. Wonder if he'd take it the wrong way if I bought him a muzzle for Christmas.

Probably.

Lost in my happy place, filled with bacon and sausage and eggs and real pumpkin pancakes (not that crud you get in a box), I almost missed the smoke rolling up from my backyard…until I heard Bella scream.


	8. Max: Meet the Parents

**October**

**Seattle**

**Max**

Grey. The sky was grey, the street was grey. The clouds were grey. The buildings were grey. It was no wonder Washington was ranked 18th in the nation for suicides each year. If I had to see any more grey today I was going to throw myself off the rooftop in effigy.

Either that or grab a can of spray paint and go deface public property, just for a change of scenery. I hadn't decided which way I wanted to go with that yet.

'Turn down the melodrama, Max.'

'Why?'

'Because the cops in this town just aren't that hot.'

Point for me. No sense in breaking the law if you didn't even get to enjoy some eye candy when you got caught. And it was never the rookie with the six-pack and the sweet grin that stuttered when he brought you in. Complete waste of time.

On the other hand, if I didn't get out of this apartment and out into the real world I was literally going to start climbing the walls. Don't ask me how, but it was going to happen. _Something _had to happen or I was going to go out of my mind.

My prayers were answered when my stomach decided to bust a move with the bass coming from my door. Delivery guy? I didn't remember ordering takeout, but anything was possible. I'd practically lived on pizza and Chinese for the last two weeks. Anything more strenuous than popping a bowl in the microwave was a pain in the butt one-handed.

Dancing across the floor I did a neat pirouette, opened the door-and stared wide-eyed at the woman carefully wiping her shoes on my kitty-cat welcome mat.

"Mom?"

"Maxine!" She wrapped her arms around me in a flurry of Chanel. "How are you? I couldn't get you on your cell phone, so I spoke to the hospital. That sweet secretary of yours said you were taking a medical leave of absence. What happened?"

Bemused, I lightly patted her on the back.

"I broke my arm. A lot."

"Yes, I see that." She gently placed her hands on my shoulders and pushed me back, as if the roots to my sudden and mysterious ailment were somewhere on my Garfield nightgown and bunny slippers instead of the two-toned cast running up my arm. (Definitely owed Dr. C for that one. White casts were just so blah.)

Oh crap. I was wearing my Garfield nightgown and bunny slippers. In the middle of the day. In front of my mother, who got up, hit her personal gym and was showered, dressed and making phone calls at the crack of dawn. Well, foster mother. Who got up, hit her personal gym and was showered, dressed and making phone calls at the crack of dawn. Somehow that tiny distinction didn't make the disapproving look on her face any less maternal.

"Maxine dear, are you feeling well? Perhaps we should take you back to the hospital, you look terrible."

"I'm fine mom, really." I smiled weakly. The tall, thin, tanned, blue-eyed blonde with her perfectly coiffed hair and perfect makeup and perfectly pressed pantsuit who could walk in heels without falling down and wear white all day long without managing to dump salsa down the front of it had always intimidated me. When I was little I wanted to be just like her. As I'd grown, I'd learned to hate her for it as much as I loved her for the way she always opened her arms to me anyway.

"Showers are kind of a pain to manage on my own with…this," I nodded at my cast. "And since I hate putting clean clothes on a dirty body…"

"You just stayed in your pajamas," she finished. It had been my mantra in high school. "Darling, how long have you been puttering around in that t-shirt?"

"Ummm…" Thinking back, it had been two or three days. I couldn't manage a shower without soaking my cast which, while it wouldn't ruin it, would make it almost unbearably itchy. I'd gotten Bella to give me a hand when she'd stopped by earlier that week, and I'd planned on getting David to help me out when he brought my car up today or tomorrow, but in between just seemed like way too much work.

"I thought so." Setting her black leather clutch down on my coffee table she walked around, grabbed a garbage bag from under the sink and nodded down the hall. "Why don't I give you a hand wrapping this up? You can grab a shower and pull on that dragon kimono of yours. It'll be darling with that cast. Then we can go out to lunch. You have to be dying to get out of here, you never could stand being cooped up for more than a day or two at a time."

She squeaked when I ran over and threw my arms around her.

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes." Grinning, I placed smacking kisses on both of her cheeks. "You're a saint. An absolute saint. A goddess among women."

"Saint Jeanni." Rolling her eyes, she pulled the bag over the cast and tied it tight. "They'll compose odes to me, I'm sure."

"Oh, entire sonnets at least."

Her laughter followed me down the hall, into the bathroom and under the steaming hot spray of the showerhead. Dunking my head under the water I sighed contentedly, then gave the shampoo the evil eye. Did I have an alternative? Nope. With another sigh, this one loaded with resignation for the inevitable, I grabbed the bottle and dumped ice cold shampoo all over my head.

Hey, you have your pet peeves, I'll have mine. Cold shampoo on a hot scalp isn't a good thing in _anybody's_ book.

When I left the bathroom I felt clean, dried and somewhat moisturized, which was just the ticket for heading down the road toward something resembling human. Opening up the door to my closet, I had to shake my head in bemusement. How the hell did the woman manage to see me two, three times a year and still remember the contents of my wardrobe?

As usual, mom had been right. The red and black kimono she'd brought back from a trip to Japan last year was the perfect choice, since the sleeves were big enough to easily slide the cast in and out and the fabric and matching pants were actually warm enough to ward off the chill in the air that announced summer was officially over. I pulled a comb through my hair, dabbed on just a touch of makeup and grinned at my reflection in the mirror.

Time to get out of here.

Stepping back out into the hallway I was surprised to hear not one but two voices coming from my kitchen.

"No way." The deep male baritone was familiar. So familiar, in fact, that I couldn't help a quick groan when it was answered by a high pitched, feminine giggle.

"Oh, she did. Right into the mud. Then she held that little egg up, proud as could be, and shouted, 'Home run!'"

Jack was sitting at the table roaring with laughter. My mother reached out a hand and laid it gently on his arm. Was she flirting? Oh my god, she was. Jack just had that effect on people.

"Rehashing my misspent youth, mother dear?"

"Oh, Maxine." She dabbed at tears gathered at the corner of her eyes. "I was just telling your young man here about the Easter Sunday you decided to play baseball with a chocolate egg in your best Easter dress."

"And you're laughing about it?"

If my response was a bit droll it was because she'd been anything but amused at the time. Especially considering the game in question had taken place on the White House lawn, with hundreds of reporters looking on.

"Oh, it's hilarious now. It wasn't nearly as funny when I had to explain to a CNN news correspondent why you had skulls all over your panties without a pair of bloomers in sight. Sweetheart, why didn't you tell me you already had lunch plans?"

"Because I didn't know that I did." I eyed Jack suspiciously. He beamed back, his not-quite-perfect angel's face giving nothing away.

"I had some time this afternoon and wanted to see how you were doing. You sounded a little rough when I talked to you last night."

The memory of that cringe-worthy conversation was enough to make me…well, cringe. Jack had caught me in a mood the night before. In my defense I'd been completely out of Saltines and cream cheese, the pizza parlor down the corner wouldn't deliver because their delivery guy hadn't shown up and there wasn't a blessed thing on the 150 channels cable pumped into my living room for my supposed entertainment. Looking back, it was a wonder the man hadn't run screaming for the hills.

"That's so sweet." Mother beamed. "I'm so glad Max has such good friends looking out for her up here. I worry about her, all alone in the city."

"I'm fine mom, really."

"Oh, I know honey. I'm overreacting as usual. Doesn't change the fact that you're my little girl, all alone in this place, and you still haven't told me what you did to that arm."

"She broke it sparring with a Doctor Cullen," Jack volunteered helpfully. I groaned, slipping onto a chair and plunking my head on the table when she turned in surprise.

"Carlisle Cullen? Oh, I don't believe that for a minute. That man wouldn't hurt a flea."

"Accident, mom. It was an accident. And I didn't even know you knew Dr. C." With a sigh, I figured I'd better come clean with the details before that disapproving tone turned into a phone call that would mortify both of us. "Remember Jaz? She and Dr. C run a clinic down in La Push. He and his kids studied martial arts and agreed to help me out when they had some free time. I screwed up a block, and voila. Nothing more sinister than that."

"Now see Jack, I've been telling her for years that those martial arts lessons were a bad idea. I don't know why she insisted on them, and her junior year of college too." She shook her head, bewildered.

You have to understand, Jeanni Donovan was the type of woman who was raised to believe in the value of ballet lessons and piano lessons and singing lessons and cooking classes and any other educational opportunity you could think of that would make a woman more graceful, more beautiful, and more qualified to bag a very, very rich man. She was completely baffled by my need to learn how to kick serious amounts of ass and, since I'd never told her the whole story to begin with, I just didn't have it in me to try and explain it to her now.

"I think it's an excellent idea," said Jack smoothly.

"You do?"

"Oh, absolutely." He winked at me. "A woman living alone in a city like Seattle ought to be able to defend herself, no matter what she comes up against."

He was a genius. Having her own words tossed back at her seemed to stop my mother in her tracks. Hadn't she just been saying she worried about me? Sure, it was in more of an abstract, 'I wish you didn't live all the way across the country so we could stick you with a bodyguard and keep an eye on you' kind of way, but it had been her argument nonetheless. And since there was no way she could argue with it, she recovered by excusing herself to go touch up her makeup.

"I owe you one," I whispered when she was out of earshot.

"You're right, you do." He grinned. "I think I just gave up any bonus points I managed to chalk up by being a man, and actually being in your apartment. You should have seen the way she looked at me when I knocked on the door. A little warning would have gone a long way when she asked if I'd had a sex change operation."

"Oh no." I banged my head on the table again, then twice more for good measure. "I'm sorry. I don't usually take guys home, for obvious reasons. I didn't realize she'd given up any hope of grandkids and decided I was batting for the other team."

"Your mother invited me to lunch." He reached over, lightly toying with my fingers. I was surprised at how good the gentle touch felt on my skin. "How about you not come up with a million reasons why I shouldn't go and we call it even?"

Lunch? Mother had invited him to lunch? I moaned, cursed and complained inwardly, but there was no way I could say no without being rude. Especially after he said that. As the woman of the hour walked back into the kitchen, laughing about my dormitory-style bathroom (read: Not covered in pink frilly crap) I crossed my fingers and prayed that we'd all get through the afternoon with our sanity intact.

Surprisingly, we actually spent an enjoyable hour over manicotti. Jack and my mother got along like two peas in a pod, which meant all I had to do was sit back and leave them to it. It was a little weird, honestly. A couple of months ago I couldn't get Jack to keep a date. Now he was getting up close and personal with all the people in my life that really mattered, and he…fit. He'd flirted with Bella, joked around with Jaz and Quil and completely charmed Emily. Now he and my mother were exchanging phone numbers and promises to get together if he was ever out on the east coast before he leaned over and kissed me goodbye. In front of my mother. Without an ounce of shame.

I was standing in the Twilight Zone. Why didn't anybody ever tell me these things?

"What a hunk." Mom looked over, wiggling her eyebrows at me as Jack's car pulled away. "If I was twenty years younger, I'd give you a run for your money."

"If you were twenty years younger, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"That's what you think." She smiled, reaching over to pat me on the cheek. "I'd like to think we'd have been friends, even if I hadn't been lucky enough to have you as part of my family."

"Please. I'd have been the girl you wouldn't be caught dead sitting next to in the lunchroom, and you'd have been the girl whose hair I shot spitwads into in the middle of class."

"Ha!" She crowed triumphantly, wrapping her arm around my waist and guiding me toward the front door. "I knew you were lying when you said you didn't shoot those spitwads into Allison Grouse's hair."

"Okay, first of all, that was eighth grade. I can't be expected to remember that far back. Secondly, this was a strictly hypothetical conversation. I neither admit nor deny that anything of the sort actually happened. Thirdly, she had it coming."

We grinned at each other.

"So, how long are you in Washington?" I asked casually. Not that I wanted to get rid of her, but…no, there was no but. I was bored out of my mind and dying for company. A quick honk from the parking lot reminded me I was about to have more company than I knew what to do with.

"Maxi!" David grinned over the top of his aviator style sunglasses. The idiot had left the top down, even though it was barely 50 degrees outside, compensating by tossing on a thick brown leather jacket, jeans and, I was willing to be, the combat boots we'd found at an army surplus store a few years before. High fashion for a man who wore a shirt and shoes less than Jake and the guys when he could get away with it.

"What the hell are you doing?" I hollered over, laughing when he wagged his eyebrows. "You have to be frozen!"

"Not anything that matters." He leered lasciviously. "Even if it was, not like I'm using it anyway. It would be so worth it. Who knows when I'm going to get to drive this thing again? Had to get the full experience."

"Idiot," I muttered affectionately.

"Living dangerously," he corrected, nodding at the woman standing next to me. "Who's the babe?"

"Oh my." Mom lifted her hand to her heart, then smacked me in the arm. "Maxine, why didn't you mention you spent your days surrounded by so many good looking men? I'd have flown out here weeks ago."

Oh brother. I was never going to hear the end of this. Ah well. In for a penny, in for a pound, right?

"Tomato, tomahto. I'm sticking with idiot. And the 'babe' is my mother. Show some respect."

"Darlin', if she asks nicely I'll show her anything she wants."

David's grin was huge. Next to me, mom was tittering like a schoolgirl.

"What a charmer. Jeanni Donovan." She walked over to the car, stretching out her hand.

"David."

"Just David?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Like Cher," he agreed with a grin. "No, actually I have more last names than I know what to do with. It's sort of a tribal thing. Orrinson is the name I usually go by out in 'the white man's world' (complete with sarcastic finger quotes). If you have to have a last name, that's the way to go."

"Orrinson?"

"Orrin's son," I said, hopping to his rescue. "Orrin's the medicine man that found Jaz when her parents dumped her like a sack of potatoes."

"Ah." Her face lit with recognition. She'd met Jaz often enough to know her story. We had, after all, survived seven years of hell/medical school together. "Well, David Orrin's son, what are you doing at my daughter's house in that hot red deathtrap?"

"Not my deathtrap, unfortunately." He held out his hand, keys dangling from his fingertips. I snatched them up.

"That's right. My toy. Now give it back and go away."

"Maxine!"

I knew it was only a matter of time before I managed to remind her why she only came to see me a couple of times a year. David just laughed it off, hopping over the edge of the car and coming over to wrap his arm around her waist.

"She never did learn how to share," he said sadly. "I guess that means I'm going to have to let you go find a parking spot while I charm this lovely young lady here."

"Sweet talker." Mom reached up to pat his cheek, but he had a point. He'd pulled into the loading zone to say hello, which meant that sooner or later the super was going to start to bitch. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to get back to my hotel. I have an appointment with the masseuse at 4, then I was hoping you'd say yes to dinner at the Space Needle."

"Don't I always?"

The Space Needle was mom's favorite place to eat in Seattle, and she dragged me every time she was in town. I was starting to have serious doubts about her real motivation in coming to see me. It was entirely possible she was being seduced by Wild Gulf Prawns and Jidori Chicken instead of the chance to see her only child.

"You too, young man," she added, staring pointedly at David.

Oh hell. First Jack, now David? Karma really was a bitch. David, of course, was completely oblivious to the horror unfolding in front of my eyes. The little traitor was grinning like the cat that ate the canary.

"I don't think David's going to be able to hang around that long, are you? Don't you have to get back to California?"

I tried for my best 'Say yes and you're a dead man' smile. It wasn't that I objected to her meeting David. Truthfully, I'd rather have her hanging around David than Jack…although knowing David, he'd love to make her think he was my dirty little secret. It was just that she'd already managed to give one of the men in my life the third degree today and I really wasn't up to picking at my dinner while she started on round two.

Either he wasn't getting the message or he was being deliberately obtuse, because he bent down, catching mom's hand and lifting it to his lips.

"Au contraire, cherie," he said in his best French accent. (I was betting Jaz and I were the only ones that knew he'd picked that up imitating Lumiere from "Beauty and the Beast".) "I'd actually planned on bunking down at Max's and heading home first thing in the morning. So for this evening, I am all yours."

"Lucky me," I muttered. Since Jaz had shot him down he hadn't met a woman yet he hadn't tried to seduce. It would have been hilarious if he wasn't _hitting on my mom_.

"What was that, Maxine?"

"Mi sofa es tu sofa," I said quickly, smiling weakly when mom beamed at David. Again. Good grief.

A quick hug and an air kiss later the women who was, for all intents and purposes, the only mother I'd ever had hopped into a cab and disappeared. I waited until she was out of sight to start screaming.

Unlike some people I, at least, had some manners.

"What the hell were you thinking?" I shrieked, slugging him in the shoulder. "You were _flirting_ with my _mother._"

"Well, yeah." David shrugged, rubbing his arm with a hurt look on his face that I knew was 100% fake. If he could take Quil breaking his nose he could take anything I could dish out. "Your mom's hot."

"David, so help me god…"

"Chillax, Maxine." The fake hurt melted into a grin. "She got a kick out of it and you got someone to keep her distracted during dinner. Now maybe she won't spend the entire night nagging you about why you haven't gotten married and given her a pack of grandkids yet."

"That's a great idea, except for one thing. Well, two things actually. One, until this afternoon my mother apparently thought I was a lesbian."

David stared at me for a second, then burst into howls of laughter that had him doubled over on the sidewalk.

"Man-eating Max?" he asked, pulling my college nickname out of thin air to throw back at me. "Seriously? Has your mother _met_ you recently?"

"Ha ha, very funny. That's not even the worst part."

"It gets better?"

"Jack was here when she got here. She conned him into going to lunch and spent the entire time scoping out his value as a potential son-in-law. She even asked him if he'd had his sperm tested recently."

There were tears rolling down his face now, and he'd gone from attempting to stand to rolling on the ground. To be fair, it was kind of funny. David had been listening to me gripe for the past year about my mom's weekly calls to check on the status of my all-but-nonexistent love life and her as-yet unborn grandchildren. As she so delicately reminded me, I wasn't getting any younger. Apparently 27 was practically on the shelf when all the rest of her friends' kids had skipped that pesky career thing, marrying and popping out an heir and a spare within five years of graduating from school.

Finishing school, that is. High school for the rich and famous. It was enough to inspire a massive migraine and the almost overwhelming urge to eat hedonistic amounts of chocolate every time I hung up the phone.

It wasn't that I hated the Barbie doll clones I'd gone to school with. Though I did. It wasn't that I didn't want to get married. Though I didn't. And it wasn't that I didn't want to have kids. Eventually. It was just that even if I could find a man that I wouldn't end up chewing up and spitting out by the end of the first year that actually _wanted_ to be with me, I was still bound and determined never to wind up at the mercy of a man. That was a lesson I'd learned the hard way. Once you were dependent on them, they thought they owned you.

So I tolerated music classes and art classes and finished medical school at the top of my class, landed a job with one of the best research hospitals on the west coast so I could work and still be close to the women I practically considered sisters after 8 years of living in each others' pockets and built a life that had nothing to do with the men I was dating.

Mom was proud of me. I knew she was. She'd thrown a huge party the day I graduated college, although I was never sure whether it was supposed to be a celebration of the fact that I'd kicked ass or simple gratitude that I hadn't gotten kicked out. It was just that from her point of view I'd finished school and now it was time to start settling down.

I secretly suspected her bridge club had a granny competition going, but I'd never been able to prove it. The point is, she was going to be ecstatic over finding not one but _two_ men in my apartment, and I was never going to hear the end of it.

"Hey! You think this is parking lot?"

The building super, a small, aggravating little Ukrainian with a handlebar mustache, a receding hairline and a potbelly that suggested he spent more time than he should gobbling up his wife's kissel (which I could personally vouch for, the woman was amazing) came out the front door shaking his fist.

"Sorry Mr. Golovnya." I jerked a thumb toward David, who still hadn't managed to get himself under control. "The howling buffoon here was just dropping off my car."

"Eh, is not car, is fire hazard. And is blocking my front steps." He pointed at David, giving him the evil eye. "The zhinka, she cannot drive. You park car in back. You." He shifted his finger, and his glare, over to me. "You put jacket on. Is freezing out here."

"I was just…"

"_Now."_

Shaking his finger at both of us as though we were nothing more than naughty children he went back inside.

"Interesting man."

"He's a sweetheart." I smiled, handing David back my keys. "And as much as it pains me to say it, he's right. Handling a stick is a little beyond me right now. Ah!" I held up my hand when he opened his mouth. "Don't say it."

"Don't say what?"

"Any of the million and one comments on handling sticks you were thinking but didn't want to say because you were afraid I'd do permanent damage to _your_ stick. Just don't go there, okay?"

"Jeez, your mom rolls into town and you turn into the poster child for good behavior." Hopping over the door into the driver's seat (show-off) he slipped the key into the ignition, gunned the engine, then grinned up at me. "I'm gonna say goodbye to my girl here. Don't wait up, okay?"

Men and cars. Shaking my head, I turned and jogged up the cement steps and into the lobby of the grey brick high rise I called home. First Sergeant Stanford Jarvis, the security guard nee black ops Marine staring at the monitors behind the security desk, waved hello. I lifted a hand in greeting but didn't stop to chat. I'd already learned that lesson. If you gave Stan an inch you'd be standing there for an hour.

Slipping into the mirrored elevator before the doors could shut, I pushed the button for my floor. I'd had this apartment since my arrival in Seattle four years before. I'd liked it because security was there around the clock, every apartment had a view and the apartments were usually filled, which meant that at any given time there was always somebody around to hear you scream. And it wasn't the kind of place where people ignored that sort of thing.

The grocery store and open air market were close enough to walk to, and I was far enough away from the hospital that I wasn't the first person they called when they were looking for someone to come in. There was a park about two blocks down for Billy and Jenny when they came to visit and a lap pool and weight room in the basement for days it was too nasty for pounding the pavement.

Most importantly, there was a feeling of community between the people who lived and worked there that I'd never had in any of the places I'd lived before moving in with the Donovans. People like Mr. and Mrs. Golovnya, who fussed and fidgeted about the plants on the balcony and how many Christmas decorations you put on your door and brought you potato varenyky and kissel when you were too sick to do anything more ambitious than open a can of soup. Or the Jensens on the first floor who ran an interior design business and were always stopping by to offer to paint your walls or let you know about this or that they found at auction that would be perfect for your apartment. Or Tommy Lee on the third floor, who played in a jazz quartet and would practice on the front steps when the weather was nice so everybody could hear.

It wasn't the most expensive apartment building in town. It certainly wasn't the nicest. But it was mine and I loved it.

I puttered around the apartment for a few minutes, tidying up my mess from that morning and making sure David had clean blankets and pillows on the sofa. Let him get the most out of his time with my baby. Hell was going to freeze over before he got to drive it again. As ten minutes turned into twenty, and twenty minutes rolled into thirty, however, I started to get annoyed. What the hell could he possibly be doing in the parking garage? There was nothing _there._

Probably down there running his mouth. It wasn't unusual at all for him to lose an hour or two talking to a perfect stranger. If I didn't go fish him out he'd be down there all day.

With a sigh I headed for the door, then stopped. It was getting chilly, and if I went down without something on top of the clothes I'd come home in I was going to hear the Golovnys' gloom and doom predictions for _weeks._ It wasn't worth it.

Reaching for the black leather duster hanging on the hook, I hesitated. I loved it because it was sleek, chic and designed to show off every curve I had while still being subtle about it, but the sleeves were a little bit tight. I was afraid the rough casting material would tear it up. Without thinking twice I grabbed for the big, baggy sweatshirt sitting on the shelf right next to it and pulled it on, smiling at the feel of the soft, fuzzy liner against my skin and the way it fit easily over my casted arm.

Possession being 9/10 of the law, there was an excellent chance this shirt's owner was never going to see it again.

Grabbing my purse I locked up (you can never be too careful) and made for the elevator. If David was down there flirting with some random co-ed in a tennis skirt, I was going to be pissed. Pushing the button I waited…and waited…and waited. The next time I pushed the magic arrow I was greeted by a nasally voice piped in through the elevator's speaker systems informing me that the elevator was temporarily down for repair.

Fabulous. Wait, didn't they just do that? Ah well. It was my arm that was broken, not my legs, right? The stairs it was.

The door to the top of the stairwell opened with an eerie creak. Apprehension rolled my stomach into knots and pulled tight when I stepped inside, letting it slam shut behind me.

"Good grief," I grumbled, more to hear another voice as I jogged down the stairs to the garage level than the actual need to share my thoughts. "Add some dim lighting, some creepy music and a psychotic serial killer and you've got all the makings of a great Hollywood horror flick."

"Well, two out of three ain't bad."

The disembodied voice seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. Frowning, I stepped out into the middle of the stairwell, reaching into my purse for the mace I always kept in the front pocket. Tingles of anticipation mixed with adrenaline chased up and down my spine. Whoever was stalking around in the stairwell trying to freak me out was in for a serious surprise. I was packing a chemical spray guaranteed to blind them with science and the rough equivalent of a third degree black belt thanks to my lessons at the Cullens'. It never occurred to me to be afraid.

Shows you how stupid and narrow minded the human mind can be. A second later a hand shot up from beneath me, grabbing the railing and pulling a body up and over the edge. The other hand, along with a face and most of his body, was covered by a long black cloak that flapped and fluttered in the dim stairwell. What the hell? Renaissance actor? I braced myself, put my finger on the spray, and waited for him to make his move.

"I would not do that if I were you. You cannot possibly hope to fight me off, and the mace isn't going to help you." He flipped back the hood of his cape to reveal a thin face, olive skin and red eyes gone almost black with hunger.

Vampire. Fuck.


	9. Max: Nom nom nom

**October**

**Seattle**

**Max**

The thing about vampires is that they don't tend to spend a whole lot of time monologuing. Before I could come up with a Plan B the vampire struck. Jesus, he was fast. One second he was standing there, smiling at me like your favorite neighbor come to borrow a cup for tea. The next second he had grabbed my throat, slamming me into the wall hard enough to jar my broken arm and closing in like a viper for the kill.

Fuck fuck fuck. No time to scream. No time to flinch. No time to fight. All I could was screw my eyes shut, brace myself for the flash and burn from the venom about to come shooting into my system and pray he'd be quick.

Why the hell was I carrying mace instead of anti-venom again? Oh. Right. Because the vampires that usually accosted me in my stairwell were vegetarians. Seriously going to have to talk to Dr. C about that one. We were going to need to put together an epipen for the unexpected vampire attack. We could call it Vamp-Be-Gone. The market would be huge.

Wait. Why was I even alive long enough to think about this? Cracking one eye open I realized the vamp was hovering less than an inch above my neck, his breath hot on my skin (and smelling oddly minty), and he was….sniffing?

"You smell like vampire," he hissed. The next thing I knew he was several floors above me, perched like a gargoyle on the thin metal railing. "What are you?"

"Excuse me?"

"The Cullens. You reek of them. What are you, and what are you to them?"

Not who are you. _What _are you. I noticed the distinction. Could vampires go batty? Why would he smell…? Then I realized, and the rush of relief made me so dizzy I almost fell over. Dr. C's shirt, the one he'd left in my apartment when he'd come up in August. The one I'd pulled on to wear downstairs. Even though I'd washed it, it must have retained enough scent for the vamp's nose to pick up the traces of its former owner and decide I wasn't a convenient entrée after all.

There was no way in hell he was getting it back now.

"I'm a friend of Bella's, and I work with Carlisle sometimes." When faced with a hungry vampire, keep it simple. "Who are you?"

The vampire opened his mouth to answer, but before he could a door slammed open below us. A familiar voice singing a bawdy sea chanty drifted up the stairs. The vamp's head perked with interest. Shit.

"Heads up David, we've got company."

The singing stopped. The vampire turned, pinning me into place with his hawk's eyes, studying me as though I was a butterfly pinned under glass on the wrong end of a microscope. Curiosity mixed with amusement and just the faintest bit of interest.

'Of course he's interested Max. You smell like dinner.'

"You know this one?"

"He's a friend of Carlisle's as well."

His voice carried, its golden tone echoing off the wall and screaming to anyone familiar with vampires that my companion here wasn't exactly human. Feet pounded up the stairs. The vampire nodded in resignation, settling back down onto the railing, and a second later David came into view.

"Max. Jesus." He grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into a quick hug. His heart was pounding so hard I could feel it through his jacket. Fear, I realized, not exertion. He'd been worried about me. Wrapping my good arm around him I leaned into him.

"I'm okay David. Really. He knows Carlisle."

David stepped back, pushing me out to arm's length to check me up and down before turning his head to look at the vampire sitting patiently on the rail. Lack of survival instinct? Either that or he figured if the vampire was going to kill us, he'd have done it by now. When he did finally get around to checking out our unexpected guest, however, his eyes grew huge.

"Demitri?"

"David." He smiled, a sweet, charming smile that looked completely out of place on someone who wanted nothing better than to drain us both dry. "I apologize, I didn't recognize you."

"Wait, you two know each other?"

"We've recently met," he said smoothly, shooting David a glance that could only be construed as a warning. But a warning about what?

Whatever it was, David obviously understood. The vampire-Demitri-relaxed noticeably when he nodded, sliding down to sit on the rail and swing his feet like a little boy.

"Met? Met where? And what do the Cullens have to do with this?"

David's voice was apologetic, but his tone was firm when he said, "Pack business Max. Don't worry about it."

In other words, none of my business. Hey, I'd almost been eaten a few seconds ago. For the moment, at least, I was okay with that.

"Max. Is that short for Maxine?"

Neither one of us had seen him move. He was suddenly just there, looming over me, his red eyes laughing down as he reached down to grab my hand and bring it to his lips the way David had my mother's not too long ago. Only his hands were much colder and his moves were much, much smoother.

"Yes, but only my mother gets to call me that and live," I said, frowning when dry lips danced across my skin.

"And Bella, Jaz and Dr. C," David provided.

"David, don't help." My teeth were gritted, but I forced a smile to match Demitri's indolent amusement as he stared into my face.

"A woman with a man's name who smells of vampires and runs with wolves. You, Maxine, are a conundrum."

"Yeah, well, don't waste too much time figuring out it. What you see is what you get."

"I doubt that, my dear. I very much doubt that."

Demitri bent down, pressing his lips to my hand one final time.

"We will meet again."

He vanished as quickly and as quietly as he had come, the slam of the garage door the only evidence he'd ever been there at all. As soon as he was gone my legs started trembling, vibrating until my whole body was shaking like a Mexican maraca. I crumbled to the stairs, my knees having decided that telling them to face down a real, live vampire without running away was all the instruction I was going to get to give for the day. From here on out, they were running the show.

"Max? Max? Stay with me hon."

David took of his jacket, wrapping it carefully around my shoulders. I pulled the edges shut, grateful for the heat and the reassuring scent of his aftershave, then let him sit down next to me and pull me tight up against his side.

"Demitri's a member of the Volturi, and an ally of sorts. For the moment, anyway. We met with him down in La Push last night," he explained, brusquely rubbing his hand up and down my arm in a futile effort to get me warmed up. After seeing my death in Demitri's eyes, I didn't know if I would ever be warm again.

"What were the Volturi doing in La Push?" Panic I hadn't felt before gripped my gut. "Was he looking for Bella?"

"No honey, no. Bella's fine. There's…some serious shit about to go down in Volterra. A group of vamps wants to overthrow the Volturi, and they want Carlisle and the pack to help them do it. No one is supposed to know about it though," he warned softly. "That could be dangerous for everyone."

Remembering the look in Demitri's eyes when he'd looked at David I didn't have to wonder about that one. I had no doubt he'd kill us if he had to. Letting this story leak was definitely out of the question.

We sat there for forever, until my shivers subsided and all that was left was the hot sting of tears at the back of my throat.

"We should call the Cullens, let them know what happened," David said softly, reaching for his cell phone.

I instinctively shook my head, but he was right. There was always the off chance that this really had been just a random vampire sighting in a stair shaft, an indoor space tucked out of the sunlight where a vampire could wait for its next victim. But it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the odds of Demitri traveling all the way to La Push to meet with the coven and the pack (I assumed, since there was no chance in hell Jake would let a member of the Volturi come into La Push without keeping an eye on him) then running into the only human in Seattle with direct ties to all of them purely by chance were pretty damn slim.

"I'll do it," I said, digging into my pocket. They were going to want to know what he'd said, what he'd done, and I didn't want to have to repeat myself twice.

"Are you certain?"

"Yeah, absolutely." Settling back in against David's side I drank the warmth from his body while I waited for the phone to ring. Tears of shock and relief were strangling the back of my throat now, and my hand shook so badly I couldn't even lift the phone to my ear when I heard the gently accented 'Hello?' on the other end of the line..

David solved my problem by plucking the phone out of my hand. Taking a deep breath I cursed my tinny, wobbly voice and said, as calmly as possible, "Dr C? We've got to have a serious talk about your taste in friends."


	10. Bella: Up in Flames

**October**

**Bella**

I have a confession to make. When I first got back and found out Embry was still living with us, I was pissed. It had been an entire year since he and Andy had separated. You'd think somewhere in there they'd have figured something out. Or he'd have found his own place to live. Or anything other than camping out in my guest room. Still.

It wasn't fair, and guilt mixed with irritation had my stomach tied into knots the whole ride home. Embry had been Jake's family for years before I was anything other than Charlie's bratty kid who didn't like to go fishing. I knew that. And I loved him. I really did. But I was having a hard time getting over how much it sucked that we were going to have someone else underfoot after I hadn't seen Jake for an entire year. Having the pack around constantly was part of the reason I'd left in the first place. Jacob had promised there would be more time for just _us_, but here I was, in the front seat of a truck full of wolves, going home to a roommate I hadn't asked for.

Leaning back against the seat I followed the kids' example, closed my eyes and let the time difference drag me under. I didn't want to spoil my first day home by fighting with Jake. I was just going to have to suck it up.

That attitude lasted about as long as it took me to walk in my front door, admire my brand-new, ginormous living room (only a pack of wolves could have a food fight and destroy a freaking _wall_) and get a good look at the man who came out and wrapped his arms around me. Then I felt like a first class, grade-A bitch.

Quil had looked like hell after Claire died. Somehow, Embry looked worse. It wasn't anything physical. He looked tired, but he wasn't gaunt the way Quil had been. His hair was neatly trimmed, his body still muscular and fit when he squeezed me tight enough to have me gasping for air. He smelled like the Old Spice Jake loved, which meant there probably wasn't a bottle of real shampoo in the house. But his eyes…

Embry had always had such expressive eyes. He didn't even bother playing poker with the guys anymore. Everything he thought, everything he felt, was written all over his face. Now… I'd seen corpses with more expression. Literally. (I still hated that I could say that and mean it.) I was expecting pain, bitterness, guilt. Maybe even anger. I wasn't expecting this.

"Hey Bells. Welcome home."

"Hey Em." Pulling back out of the hug and sucking in a deep breath, I smiled up at him. "Hear you're still cleaning out my fridge."

"Yeah, well, that's what Tiggers do best, right?"

"Well, wolves, at any rate. But if you bring home a Tigger, he has to cook for himself."

"Tigger!" crowed Billy happily. Wired from his nap, he bounced around the room in frantic imitation of his recently acquired Disney hero. "Tigger Daddy, Tigger."

"It's in the front pocket of the carry-on." Jake nodded, already reaching down into the bag he'd slung over his arm. He knew all about Billy's latest obsession.

The man of the minute had shifted gears, clinging to Jake's pants, riding his massive foot around the room while he pretended to trip and stumble over to the TV. A few butons later the Winnie-the-Pooh theme song filled the room. Billy settled in on the sofa to sing along.

Embry smiled, shaking his head. "Good grief Bells, what are you letting him watch? That kid's gonna need therapy for years." Then he stuffed his hands in his back pockets. The smile slipped off his face as he stared down at his ratty sneakers, scuffing his feet on the floor. "Listen, I know you're not going to say it, so I will. I know you want your house back. I'm working on finding another place to stay."

"Don't be stupid," Jake said quickly, walking back over. He sent me a pleading look, shifting Jenny's car seat to his other hand and wrapping his arm around my waist. A show of solidarity. He was trying to make it look like we were on the same side, whether I agreed with him or not. Good thing I did, or I'd have to kill him. "You're welcome to stay as long as you want."

"Says you. Your wife might actually appreciate having a little privacy so you two can…you know." Embry wobbled his hand from side to side with a cheerful leer, making my cheeks burn. Jake rolled his eyes, squeezing me tighter and grinning wolfishly.

"Don't worry. Somehow we'll manage to…you know…whether you're here or not."

Embry gave a quick, choked laugh when I buried my burning cheeks in Jake's chest. "You ass," I grumbled, peeking out of one eye. "The jerk's right though Em. You're family. You're welcome to stay."

"Thanks Bells." The words were simple, but it was impossible to miss the way his shoulders slumped in relief. He'd obviously been worried about what was going to happen when I got home. While I wasn't entirely convinced I liked the idea of him living with us indefinitely, I certainly wasn't going to kick him out the door.

It was going to be interesting to see what happened when Andy stopped by though. She'd been emailing me for months asking when we were going to get back home. The fur was going to fly, and I wasn't entirely sure it was all going to be metaphorical.

I hate it when I'm right.

We'd been back for a couple of months now, and while I was used to having Embry underfoot the tension in the house was slowly hitting epic heights. Why? Because Andy was taking it very, very personally that I'd taken her only living niece and nephew all the way across the ocean for a year, and she was making up for lost time by stopping by our house as often as possible. Which meant she and Embry were constantly in each other's path. And in each other's faces. Usually at the top of their lungs.

"God, Bella, he's getting so smart!" Andy cooed, laughing while she helped Billy put together a puzzle on the floor. Jenny was perched in her high chair, suspiciously eyeballing the fruit puffs on her tray before pinging one down into Andy's long blonde hair. Hanging down the back of her blue sweatshirt for once instead of her usual bun, it was the perfect target for the slimy, slobbery toddler snack. I bit back a laugh, turning back to the sink full of plates in front of me. God, was there a dark corner somewhere where dishes went to breed when I was gone during the day?

Riding high on the waves of that quick encounter in Jake's office, I wasn't paying nearly enough attention. So I wasn't ready for the quick slam of the door, or the footsteps walking into the kitchen.

Shit. Embry was back from patrol.

"Holy fuck, if I have to spend five more fucking minutes listening to Quil bitch about..." Walking into the kitchen, bare feet slapping on the linoleum, he froze when he spotted the woman sitting on my floor. "Andy. Didn't know you were going to be here tonight."

She looked up, eyebrows arched, lips pursed, eyes cool with disdain. I remembered that look. She'd spent a lot of time shooting it my way when we first met. I didn't envy Embry a bit. "I thought Sam had you all running extra patrols in case the Volturi decided to show up. I wouldn't have come over if I'd known you'd added actually coming home on time to your bag of tricks."

The dig was intentional, and from his flinch I assumed it had hit its mark. She turned back to her puzzle, deliberately scooting around so her back was facing him. I glanced from the blonde I loved like a sister over to Embry. His eyes weren't lifeless anymore. There was so much guilt and naked longing in them when he looked at his wife that I had to turn away. He'd have been humiliated if he realized I saw. Why, I don't know. Men are such idiots sometimes.

Em just stood staring for a minute, then sighed and walked over to me. Planting a quick kiss on my cheek he turned around and popped open the fridge.

"Hey Bells. Jake get off okay?"

The flush that crawled up my face when I remembered exactly how well Jake had "got off" earlier burned my cheeks. It took me a minute to remember that wasn't what Embry was talking about.

"Yeah, of course," I said quickly, blushing even harder. "The roast in there is yours. I, ah, wasn't sure if you planned on hunting while you were out." Some of the wolves could eat in their wolf form, taking advantage of patrol to grab a late night snack. Some of them couldn't. Jake had no problem with it, a testament to the amount of time he'd spent going wolf back when Edward and I were still together. Leah thought it was disgusting. Embry fell somewhere in the middle.

"Thanks." Reaching in, he pulled out the plate and stuck half the cold meat in his mouth.

"Jesus Em, heat the damn thing up first." Andy's voice carried up from the other side of the table. "Poor Jenny over there's going to be afraid you'll eat her alive."

Embry chewed, swallowed, then grinned. Relief and a tenuous hope danced in his eyes the way it did anytime Andy actually deigned to speak to him.

"Nope. Babies are too chewy."

Andy snorted, then looked over at me. "Jesus, what a pig. I'm out of here Bells. I'll catch you later."

Standing up, she dusted off the back of the yoga pants she'd worn to class that night, then bent to give Billy and Jenny a kiss. "Thanks for dinner sweetie," she said, pulling me into a quick hug. Without a word or a glance for her husband she walked, spine ramrod straight, out the door. Embry deflated the minute she left.

"Em, I…" I trailed off, not sure what to say.

"It's okay Bella. Really." Shrugging, he sat down at the table. Pilfering one of Jenny's puffs he tossed it high in the air, catching it in his mouth and making her giggle loudly. "You can't blame her for hating me. Hell, there are some days _I_ hate me."

"You guys can't go on like this." Rinsing the last of the dishes I dried my hands on a towel, then sat down next to him. "Staying in limbo like this is hurting both of you. She can't honestly still blame you for what happened last year. Not after Natalya told you guys everything."

"That's just it Bells. She does," he said grimly. "And while I would give anything to be able to go back and change it, I can't. I can't change it, and she can't live with it. And I can't live without her." Scraping his hands through his hair he leaned his head back, tipping the chair back on two legs. "I'm tired of trying, Bella. I'm just…I'm sick and tired of trying. It was bad enough when she was 16 and didn't have a damn clue what was happening between us. At least then I could tell myself I was staying away from her for her own good. Now she's the one who doesn't want anything to do with me, and I can't pretend I'm just waiting around for things to change. If they haven't changed by now, I don't think they're going to."

My heart broke a little farther at the utter heartbreak in his voice. Where Embry loved, he loved deeply, and even though she was his imprint and they didn't really get a choice in the matter I knew he was very much in love with Andy. The fact that he was still here, in La Push, instead of taking off after everything that had happened told me that. I just didn't know what to do for them. So I sat with him, feeding Jenny the rest of her supper while she begged Embry to toss the fruit puffs again, hoping that letting him know he still had family that cared would be enough.

"Embry…"

"Just…drop it Bells, okay? Please?" He shoved back away from the table, frustration written all over his face, and stalked over to the sink. Washing off the plate he'd all but licked clean he walked past a confused Billy, who was frowning up at him while driving his trains across the newly completed floor puzzle, and headed back out into the night.

I flinched at the harsh sound of the door slamming shut behind him.

Five o'clock comes way too early when you go to bed at two. I'd stayed up hoping Jake would get home before I passed out. After a whole year of sleeping alone I wasn't in a hurry to do it again anytime soon. But he didn't come, and I wound up falling asleep much later than I usually did. Which meant my eyes were still glazed over when the baby alarm went off just as the sun was coming up. And by baby alarm I mean the curious six month old throwing toys through the rails of her crib.

Most of the time I could get away with grabbing Jenny and bringing her back to bed for an hour or two, but she wasn't having any part of it that morning. With a groan I scooped her up and stumbled toward the kitchen, running into the corner of the wall and stubbing my toe on the way. 'Damn it. You're supposed to walk with your eyes _open_, aren't you?' A bowl of the mush that passed for baby cereal and maybe I could get away with dozing out in the living room for a bit. She was usually content to play in her playpen for an hour or so after breakfast until Billy woke up. If I didn't manage to pass back out before that happened it was all over.

Setting her in her high chair I handed her a handful of puffs to tide her over and started mixing the cereal in a bowl. Eyes glassy, thoughts dazed, I stared out the window over the sink for a full minute before my mind registered what, exactly, was happening in the scene in front of me. Red-orange flames shot into the air, dancing along the roof licking the sides of the shed Jake and Quil had built out back the summer before. Several members of the pack were furiously digging a firepit around the outside to stop the creeping flames from hitting the dry leaves and spreading like…well, like wildfire.

Thank god we'd cleared all of the trees out of the backyard when we moved in. Jake had wanted the space in case the kids wanted (haha) a dog when they got older. I was insanely grateful for that now, since the lack of wind and surrounding flora-and a healthy dose of good old-fashioned luck-were the only reason the fire hadn't sent the whole reservation up in flames by now. I had to get the kids out of here. I'd take them to Jaz, then come back and help as much as I could. I'd no sooner spun around to grab Jenny then two heavy hands landed on my shoulders.

I screamed, throwing my arms in the air and spinning to face my attacker.

"Bella! Bella, it's just me."

Quil stood there covered from head to toe in baby cereal, a disgruntled look on his face as the thick white blobs dripped down his hair and plopped on the floor.

"Oh my god, I am sooooo sorry," I gasped. "We have to get out of here. The shed…"

I gestured helplessly toward the window.

"Chillax Bells. Embry let us know. He's out there with Brady and Colin right now. I called the fire department on my way over, they'll be here in a minute. We should get you guys out of here though, just in case. Jake's going to have my hide if I let you get turned into crispy critters because the fire didn't know it was supposed to be under control." As soon as I said it I realized I could hear the sirens screaming on their way from Forks. Glancing back outside, I couldn't help a quick grin as Embry cocked a leg and peed on a tiny spark that had ignited on the grass. If they were playing around, I was going to be fine.

Quil disappeared down the hall, returning a second later with a sleeping Billy resting on his shoulder. The little boy's tousled hair was standing straight up, and I laughed as he snuggled his head a little farther into Quil's chest. Scooping up Jenny I headed for the door, slamming straight into Jake and Sam as they came barreling inside.

"Bella! Thank god." Jake reached out and dragged me into his arms, squeezing me tight. "What happened?"

"Somebody set the back shed on fire," said Quil, shifting Billy on his hip. "The guys have it under control, but Bella should clear out just in case."

"Wait. Somebody _set_ that fire?" I stared up at Quil in disbelief.

Quil arched an eyebrow. "What, you think sheds just walk around spontaneously combusting because they feel like it?"

"Funny," I grumbled, following Jake out the door and down to the car. "These things just happen sometimes, don't they? I mean, we kept a lot of flammable stuff out there." I froze. "Oh god, there are gas cans in there. What if they blow up?"

"Relax Bells, the guys already cleaned out the explodables. The gas cans, the lawnmowers and your bikes are on the other side of the house."

"They did what?" I gaped at Quil while Jake scooped Jenny out of my arms and hooked her into her car seat. "They went _in there_? Are they nuts?"

Quil shrugged a little. The quick motion turned my attention toward his shoulder, and I realized for the first time there were singe marks on his arms and back. "_You_ went in there. Quil, what the hell were you thinking? You could have been killed."

Reaching over I spun him around to get a good look at his back. What I saw made me cringe. Tiny embers had left a red spotted trail of blisters across his skin, and there was an ugly red burn charred at the edges down one side that had obviously been made when something fell over. Looking him over I realized he was covered in tiny burns, all the way down to his singed feet.

"You need a doctor. Now."

"I'm fine Bells, honest. Supernatural healing, remember?" He shot a quick, crooked grin over his shoulder. "You won't even be able to tell they were there in a couple of hours."

"Quil…"

"Seriously, Bells, I'm cool. I'll get Jaz or Dr. Fang to clean me up if it hasn't cleared up by the time this is over. AFTER I get a shower. I can't believe anyone would call this crap food. It's not even making _me_ hungry." Turning around he spun me toward the truck and slapped my butt hard enough to send me stumbling forward. "Take the kids to the Cullens'. Carlisle knows you're coming."

Opening the driver's side door, I frowned. "Wouldn't it be faster to just take them to Jaz's? That way I can come back and help."

Quil glanced at Jake, who was looking grim. Sam had already disappeared into the backyard to help where he could.

"I think you'll be safer where there are more people," he said finally. "Bella…your back yard _reeks_ of vampire." He held up his hand before I could say anything. "I know none of the Cullens would do this, so don't even start. But that means there are other vamps in town, and until we find out for sure you're safer there than you would be here."

"The Cullens had company tonight," said Jake grimly. "One of the Volturi trackers is in town. Said he had business with Carlisle, but…"

"But," agreed Quil wryly. "Because we know they're always so up front and honest when we ask them what's going on."

Without a word, Jake swung into the passenger seat and slammed the door behind him. Quil lifted his hand in a quick wave before he disappeared from view.

"Aren't you going to help them?"

"Drive, Bella," said Jake, his voice harsh. Hurt, I kicked the car into gear and took off toward the Cullens'. Jake looked over, then sighed. "I'm sorry honey. If it really was one of the Volturi, they're counting on getting you alone. They'd know there would be someone at the house while I was gone, but if the pack was tied up with the fire…"

"…then I'd be alone getting the kids out of the house," I finished, heart sinking. Jake was right. Even if I'd decided to take the kids to Sam and Emily's instead of the Cullens', we still had to travel to get there. A car was no match for a vampire. We'd be sitting ducks.

Carlisle and Rosalie were waiting for us on the front steps of the Cullen house. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jasper prowling along the edge of the woods, sniffing the air. Emmett was on the far side of the yard doing the same. They were going up against the Volturi to save my life. Again. I could only hope that this time didn't end the same way it had last time…or the time before that…or the time before that.

You know, maybe I should just tie a little bow around my waist and deliver me to Aro myself. A lot less people would die that way.

As soon as we stopped Carlisle was standing by the side of the car, carefully lifting out a groggy Billy. Jenny, bright eyed in her carseat, squealed in delight when Rosalie scooped her out and blew raspberries on her exposed tummy. Slipping out of the car I slammed the door shut, then turned to Jake. He was already gone.

"Jacob!" I hollered, looking around. "Don't you dare get yourself killed, do you hear me?"

A short howl that sounded suspiciously like a laugh came from the woods, making me smile. He was already on his way back to the house.

"Let's get you inside Bella," said Carlisle, looking around while he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "Have you had breakfast yet?"

I shook my head. Stepping into the Cullens' foyer I sucked in a deep breath, letting it out on a low moan of appreciation. The smell of bacon and eggs and crisp toast danced temptingly on the air, and my stomach growled hungrily at the thought of a meal I didn't have to cook. For a family that didn't eat, the Cullens had an excellent kitchen.

A familiar head of red hair, pulled back in its usual, sensible ponytail, and a dancing pair of green eyes poked out of the kitchen.

"Hey Bella. I was starting to worry about you." Walking over, Jaz wrapped me up in a quick hug. She smelled like antiseptic and bacon, which should have turned my stomach but was comforting in its own way.

"Hey. What are you doing here?"

"What, you thought I was going to let Carlisle cook?" She looked over at the blonde vamp with disdain. "There would have been nothing left."

"I'll have you know that I am an excellent cook," replied Carlisle haughtily, glancing down at the boy in his arms with a grin. "Sometimes."

"Yeah, he'll hook you up with the cereal." Jaz rolled her eyes. "Other than that, a few centuries of being able to dine on the fly have spoiled that man rotten. I figured you'd actually want to be able to eat what we cooked."

"True enough." We both laughed when my stomach rumbled again. "But I know you didn't come all the way out here just to make me breakfast."

"No, the pack brought Adam in last night while Carlisle was meeting with Jake."

I froze. Adam was one of Jacob's younger wolves. He'd just started phasing a couple of months ago. He wasn't anywhere near ready to take on a vampire, much less the Volturi. Oh god, what if he was…

"Relax, Bella." Jaz walked over to the griddle and started scooping up the hot, fresh slices of meat. "He followed his nose to a fresh kill and got caught on the wrong end of a mama bear's paw. We stitched him back together and he's going to be fine."

"Ah." I nodded, relief coursing through me in dizzying waves. Seemed like all of the wolves managed to end up on the wrong side of the local wildlife at some point or another. Nothing abnormal there. "Good thing we didn't head out to your place then. I don't know why it didn't occur to me that you were going to be covering for Carlisle."

"Something about running for your life, I'm sure," she said wryly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, we're all fine." I shuddered, the reality of what almost happened, what _could_ have happened if Embry hadn't been there making me weak in the knees. "God, Jaz, what if Embry had been out on patrol? I'd have slept through the whole thing."

"Breathe, Bella. It didn't happen. Ah!" Jaz cut me off when I opened my mouth to argue. Damn, I was really getting sick of people doing that. "Don't say it. You'll make yourself nuts. A lot of things _could_ have happened. They didn't. End of story."

"You're right. You're right!" I insisted when she raised an eyebrow skeptically before turning back and laying out another slab of bacon. "I'm going to give myself a heart attack if I keep thinking about it." I looked out into the family room, where Carlisle was curled up on the couch with Billy laying on his chest and Rosalie and Jenny were playing around on the floor. "I'm just going to be grateful Embry was there, and that Quil showed up when he did. Although I'm going to kick their respective asses when I get a chance for going into a burning building to get those stupid bikes out."

Jaz's head snapped up. "They went in? Are they okay?"

"You know them, more guts than sense," I said with disgust. "They're fine-I think. Quil got pretty singed up, but the whole wolf thing seemed to be taking care of it."

"I'll head over there after I get you settled here, make sure everyone's okay." She looked over my head into the living room. "That okay with you Carlisle?"

"Of course. I was just thinking the same thing. I'll send Emmett with you to make sure you don't run into any…trouble…between here and there."

Ah, vampire hearing. When you could talk in a perfectly normal voice from a room away and still be heard as clearly as if you had a bullhorn standing in the middle of a tiny bathroom. Sometimes-not often, but sometimes-I wondered what would have happened if I'd gone through with the change. Would I have felt like less of an outsider among all these spectacularly beautiful, gifted beings? Ah well. Didn't matter. If I'd changed I wouldn't have Jake, and I wouldn't give that up for the world. Even if the world came with immortality in tow.

Jaz headed out shortly after, calling to let us know everyone was okay and the guys were working on cleaning up the mess. Charlie was poking around, talking with the arson investigator to try and figure out what happened. Apparently he'd freaked out when he'd knocked on the door and no one was home.

Jake told him we were alright, but I was pretty sure no one was going to fill them in on the details.

I was ready to come home and see how much damage the fire had dealt, but Jake told me to stay with Carlisle until they could make sure the vamps that did it were long gone. Jasper took Billy outside to play, Rosalie took Jenny back to lay her down to take a nap and Carlisle drifted back up to the clinic to check on his patients. Soon it was just Alice and I sitting at the kitchen table.

"Sooo, Bells." She grinned brightly. "Since it looks like we're going to be having a sleepover, what do you want to do tonight?"

I groaned, sinking my fingers into my hair. At least I was wide awake now. Being sure you were going to die definitely did that for you. "Really Alice? You want to talk about movies and hairstyles _now_?"

She shrugged. "Sure. Why not? Everyone's okay, so there's no sense in sitting around worrying about it. Which is exactly what you're going to do if we don't find a way to distract you. So, what do you want to do tonight?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. I haven't got that far yet." I stopped, thinking. What was I…? Oh yeah. "There's a Cosby marathon on this afternoon. I was going to catch part of it when I put Jenny down for her nap."

"Feed them cake!" Alice giggled, bouncing on the edge of her seat. I groaned. If there was a pop culture reference in history she didn't know, I hadn't found it yet. "That's just what you need to get your mind off of what's going on around here."

Sometimes, when you've just had enough of life, a trip back to your childhood is exactly what you need. I was just starting to doze off when I looked up and realized it was almost 3:00.

"Oh crap, I have to feed the kids lunch!" I yelped, flying off the couch. Alice laughed.

"Relax, Bella. Rosalie fed Jenny and put her down for a nap already. And Carlisle ordered pizza."

Right on cue the doorbell rang. I glared at her. She couldn't have mentioned something earlier, so I wasn't standing there feeling like the worst mother on earth? A second later Jasper walked out of the clinic, Billy on his shoulders, a huge pile steaming pizza boxes in his hands.

"In case the pack stops by," Alice said, laughing when my eyes nearly popped out of my head.

"Gimme!" Billy reached down, trying to snatch the pizza out of Jasper's hands. "Gimme gimme gimme."

"Billy!" Horrified, I reached for my recalcitrant child. Jasper just grinned and held the boxes farther out of reach,

"Nuh uh little man, you're gonna have to do better than that."

Man and child disappeared into the kitchen in a wild frenzy of whoops and hollers. Laughing, I pulled Alice up off the couch and followed them out.

"Really, why do I even try and teach him manners when you're around to unteach them the minute I'm done?" I griped good naturedly, walking over to the table where Billy was already mowing his way through his first piece of pizza and scooping up a slice. The hot, gooey cheesiness melted in my mouth, and I closed my eyes in bliss.

"Mmmmmm, Carlisle's a genius," I said rapturously. "This beats the hell out of having to cook today."

"Thank you." The man in question grinned as he stepped into the room, bending his head over the pizza and breathing deeply. "I have to admit, it does smell good."

"Doesn't it? Best part of having pizza, I think, is the way the smell makes you feel like you're standing in your Italian grandmother's kitchen."

"There's no arguing with that, although…" The chirp of his cell phone cut off whatever Carlisle was going to say. We all held our breath as he fished it out of his pocket, glancing at the caller ID and snapping it open with a quick smile.

"Hello?"

Whatever the caller said next wiped the smile from his face, replacing it with concern. "Maxine, what's happened?"

Max? I was expecting Jake, and wasn't sure whether to be relieved or concerned that it wasn't. Then the sound of grinding teeth made me look back over at Carlisle. Whatever Max was saying brought a ferocious scowl to his face, but when he spoke his voice was gentle.

"All right darling, stay there. Don't go out. One of us will come up to you."

Snapping the phone shut Carlisle just stood for a moment, eyes closed, breathing deeply.

"Carlisle, what happened?" asked Alice, concerned.

"It's Demitri." Running his free hand through his hair, Carlisle opened his eyes and looked over at her. Black fury and just a touch of fear danced in his amber eyes, sending chills down my spine. "Somebody sent him after Max."


	11. Carlisle: Desperate Times

**October**

**Carlisle**

"Bloody wanker. And bloody stubborn American women."

The man sprawled in the leather chair in front of the fireplace tipped his head back, the laugh bubbling like water spilling from lips set against a pale face. Spinning to prop leather booted feet on the side of the chair he lifted his glass, the dark liquid dancing in the flickering light of the fire. Flaming red eyes sparkled with mirth.

"Careful Carlisle, your British is showing again."

Turning my head from the darkened window and the horrors dancing in its reflection, I arched an eyebrow.

"In this case I think it's perfectly appropriate, don't you?"

Smiling, he tipped the glass in silent salute.

"I'll drink to that." He sipped from the crystal, letting the blood inside wash across his lips, staining them a deep rouge as he savored the flavor. "You're taking the threat to your human pets very personally for someone who has watched their kind come and go for centuries. Let the fault lie where it deserves to fall, old friend. And that's not with you."

"From the moment Edward brought Bella home, she was mine," I snarled, turning away from the man who had played Father Confessor almost as long as I had been alive to pace restlessly in front of the window. "Just as Maxine is mine through her association with her. I protect what is mine, Roberto, and in this I have failed over and over again. I cannot, will not, fail again."

A soft rustle of air and Roberto was standing beside me.

"You could not have saved them, mon ami." His hand gently squeezed my shoulder and I closed my eyes, cursing him for hearing the words I couldn't bring myself to say. I had failed Natalya. I had failed Esme. I had failed to protect Billy Black, a good man with a family who needed him, and six years later I had failed to save his grandchildren. I hadn't been able to protect any of the children and I had come close, so close, to losing Jazmine and Billy as well. If I failed to protect Bella and Maxine now…

"The only possible interest the Volturi could have in Maxine is through her association with us. The wolves have run extra patrols through Forks and the reservation. My connections in Jacksonville are watching Bella's mother. The Mojave tribe has been warned, and they're keeping a watchful eye. But it never occurred to me, to any of us, that they would go after Maxine. Alone in Seattle she's nothing more than a sitting duck."

Cold fury and sick fear burned like bile in the back of my throat. If she hadn't decided on that particular day to grab a sweatshirt on the way out the door, would Max have been alive to call and tell us what had happened? Or would she have died bleeding in a stairwell in the middle of Seattle, just another young woman who got caught at the wrong place at the wrong time?

The mental images of her torn and mangled body filled my mind until I thought I was going to be sick from them. Demitri enjoyed his work. Her death would have been gruesome, and extremely painful.

"None of this makes sense." I shrugged off the hand on my shoulder to prowl around the room. "What's their game, Roberto? What do they want?"

Roberto smiled, walking to the bar to pour himself another glass of blood. I couldn't help but wonder if the donor had been willing. As much as it pained me to admit it, at that moment if it kept him here talking to me I wasn't entirely certain I cared. If the Volturi had any idea of the power the man in front of me wielded they would have killed him years ago. His spy network spanned the globe. Dictators didn't sneeze without his approval. If anyone could tell me what the Volturi were looking for, it would be him.

"Aro doesn't want Bella alive. She's an obvious testament to his failure, one that has the underground rumbling. The rats are whispering in the streets that the Volturi are not as powerful as they once were. Aro needs to dispose of her, but now isn't the time. He's laying the trap now for much bigger prey than the delectable Mrs. Black."

"And Marcus?"

"This isn't Marcus's game, mon ami. Aro has been pulling these particular strings for a very long time now, and you know Marcus." Roberto chuckled, his voice thick with irony. "If it doesn't interfere with the workings of the court he's happy to permit Aro his…entertainments.

"No, Aro's purpose with Maxine has nothing to do with your Bella. If he even knew about her ties to you and your family, it's unlikely he would have mentioned him to the hunter before sending him out. Aro's need for secrecy probably saved her life. You should be grateful, Carlisle."

"I'll send the bastard a Christmas card. Right before I rip his bloody head off."

Roberto tipped his head back and laughed again. Looking over, I couldn't help the quick pull at the corner of my lips. That particular zest for living had been there, even when we were children. It was good to know the years hadn't taken that from him.

"So nice to know you haven't lost your touch." His face sobered. "I can't tell you what Aro wants with Maxine, although you might consider asking her what she obviously hasn't told you yet."

Fire. So innocuous when caged, but so incredibly destructive when allowed to reach its full potential. I looked away from the hypnotizing glow of the flames I'd been poking to frown at my oldest friend.

"What are you talking about?"

He shook his head, laughing at my frustration. "Not my secret to tell, Carlisle. I don't interfere in the personal lives of humans any more than I have to. I will say you would be wise to get her out of Seattle for a while."

His words brought the memory of that afternoon's argument back into my mind. A grating sound filled the room, the screech of metal realigning as my hands dug into the steel core of the poker.

"I tried," I said through gritted teeth. "The woman has the self-preservation instincts of a lemming."

"Wouldn't leave?"

The amusement was back in his eyes now. I couldn't say I blamed him. Esme had been so sweet, so giving, that it was easy to forget how frustrating dealing with stubborn women could be. Wasn't I blessed that I had so many around to remind me?

"That's one way to put it." And was said with much more diplomacy than Maxine had given me when I'd asked her to pack up and come to Forks until we knew what was going on. "And she threatened to do any number of insane things if I asked the children to stay in Seattle with her. I was hoping…"

"That one of mine would be willing to keep an inconspicuous eye on her for you? Consider it done." Walking over to the wall Roberto pushed a small red button. Immediately a woman's voice echoed through the discretely placed intercom.

"Yes Mr. de Luca?"

"Call Mr. Smith for me please, Suzanne. Tell him I have a job for him."

While he and Suzanne discussed the details she was to give the mysterious Mr. Smith I allowed my eyes to wander the room. Roberto had always been a patron of the finer things in life, clearly reflected in the luxury of the study of his Seattle townhome. The walls, papered in red and gold, were covered with the art of the masters. They were almost certainly originals. The carpet crunched under my feet as I crossed to look at a small portrait sitting on the small mantle. The sigh that slipped past my lips was unstoppable as I stared at my own face, many centuries younger, laughing mischievously with Roberto by my side and a blonde, buxom tavern wench tucked under each of our arms.

"It's been a long time, mon ami." Peering over my shoulder, his call completed, Roberto smiled at the image. "Those were the days, weren't they? Nothing but wine and women."

"And studies," I added dryly, laughing at the memory of our days together at Eaton. "You always did forget about that part."

"Details." Roberto waved his hand dismissively. "It's been taken care of. Your human friend will be watched 24 hours a day until the threat to her life has been eliminated."

"Thank you Roberto. I owe you."

"Think nothing of it."

Wrapping his arm around my shoulder he led me back to the desk, nudging me into one of the deep leather chairs.

"Now that our business is complete, let us talk of happier matters. How have you been?"

I started to give a simple answer to the simple question. My family was well, the practice was thriving. My honorary grandchildren were bright-eyed and healthy. Looking into the sympathy now shining out of his eyes, however, it was easy to see that he already knew far too much to be able to accept a flippant response.

I wondered if Jacob knew there was at least one spy, possibly more, running around La Push.

"I don't hear the music anymore," I finally said. "It's still playing, but all I hear is the noise."

"And only trained monkeys continue to dance to cacophony and chaos," he finished, reaching over to squeeze my hand. "I'm sorry for your loss. Esme was a wonderful woman. But I can't help thinking you're being a bit hasty."

"The decision has been made. Unless you'd care to…?" I arched an eyebrow in silent supplication. As the day grew closer, so did my guilt over what I was asking of Jacob and the pack. It wasn't fair, I knew, but it was the only way.

"Not a chance, _Dr._ Cullen. And you knew that, or you wouldn't have gone to the pack in the first place."

"Yes, I did."

Whatever he would have said next was lost in the ringing of a bell somewhere downstairs.

"Ah, dinner time. Will you dine with me, Carlisle?"

"You know full well I never favored your particular flavor of cuisine." Forcing a smile past the questions and doubts in my mind, I reached for his hand. I'd get no more out of him tonight, and I was eager to get off the topic at hand. And away before the first course. "Thank you for your assistance."

"You know you have but to ask." The bell sounded again, making him turn with a snarl of irritation. "Yes, yes, I'm coming. Take care of yourself, Carlisle, and let me know if you find yourself in need of further…_assistance_. My resources are, as always, at your disposal."

With that he turned and walked away.

_**Meanwhile, in Volterra**_

"The balls have been set in motion, my lord."

"Excellent." Aro daintily picked the dried blood off of his fingernails. Tonight's dinner had been messy. He detested when they fought back. All that arterial blood gone to waste. "They've received my message?"

"They're expecting you right after the holiday, my lord."

"And the daughter?"

"Taken care of, my lord."

Aro nodded with satisfaction. Things were falling into place.

"What about that other matter we discussed?"

The guard, dressed in the trim black of the Volterran military, shifted uncomfortably. "It's being seen to. My lord, are you certain…?"

"Absolutely." He stopped, frowned. "Piotr, you're not developing a conscience on me now, are you? Such a waste."

The other man swallowed audibly.

"No, my lord."

"Excellent. You're dismissed."

The guard bowed nervously one more time, his mustache twitching in the comical way that had earned him the nickname of "Rat" among his compatriots, then slipped silently out of the room. Aro leaned back in his chair and chuckled, a low, rolling laugh that slipped through the room, balancing on the cutting edge of madness. Things were progressing perfectly. It was just a matter of time before he would be able to close the trap once and for all.


	12. Max: Oops

**November**

**Seattle**

**Max**

Poking my head out the door, I looked stealthily from one end of the hallway to the other. Coast clear. Pull the doorknob. Quietly now, quietly…there. A barely audible click. Freeze. Look left. Look right. Thick socks padding silently across the short grey carpet. Shifting my shoes from my right hand to my left I reached out, pressed the button and…

"Aaaah!"

"Good morning Maxine."

The man appeared out of nowhere, folding his hands in front of him politely, an innocuous smile meeting my glare. This was the third time this week.

It was the only thing innocuous about him. Everything about "Nick Smith" (I was 99% certain that wasn't his real name) jumped up and down and screamed, "Give me a reason." The man was a solid 6'3", and by solid I don't mean tall. I mean he was built like a tank, from the top of his bald head and his round, jowly face to shoulders that would make a linebacker look puny. With his football gear on.

His biceps were bigger than my head. I know. I checked.

Decked out in combat boots, jeans, a plain white tee and a black leather duster that covered him from shoulder to toe, Nick Smith looked like one bad-ass mother fucker. And that was _before_ you realized he was a vampire. And not of the vegetarian variety either.

"Jesus Nick, you scared me." I put my hand to my pounding heart for good measure. Like there was a chance in hell he could actually miss it. "Where the hell were you? I thought I had you this time."

His smile slipped from innocuous to smug, but he didn't say a word. I couldn't help the grin tugging at the corners of my lips. Damn it.

A quick "ping" announced the elevator's arrival. Like he did every morning Nick peeked inside, sniffed, then stepped back and waited for me to precede him before he'd step inside. Gotta make sure there was nothing in there just lurking around, waiting for the chance to take a bite out of me. You'd think an organization rumored to be home to the deadliest assassins in the vampire nation would have better things to do than hang out in an elevator-but hey, Demitri had caught me in the stairwell. What the hell did I know?

The trip to the lobby passed in silence, Nick staring blankly at the chrome doors while I contemplated that morning's failure. The day after Demitri paid me a visit had been a torrential downpour, which suited me just fine. I was in a nasty mood anyway. Sunshine would have just pissed me off. David had left almost as soon as Jasper had gotten there to check in with Eli, and while I appreciated the company they didn't send Jasper just to keep my mind off things. Having Jasper control your moods was like taking Xanax. Or being incredibly drunk. Reality was still there, and you knew it was there, but you couldn't focus on it long enough for it to piss you off. It was great in terms of getting through dinner with my mother, who'd been sucked in by Jasper's southern charm, but it really sucked anywhere-everywhere-else. I'd been downright thrilled when Dr. C showed up and he left, but as soon as Jasper was out of sight the dam burst. Fear, anger, embarrassment over the stupid tears I'd cried. Then he'd popped his brilliant proposal and I just snapped.

Fighting with Carlisle gave me something better to do with all that stupid emotion than fall apart. There was no way in hell I was going to hide out in Forks indefinitely, and as much as I loved them it would drive me nuts having Alice or Jasper or Rosalie or Emmett or god forbid _Edward_ underfoot. (Yes, Carlisle offered. I think if Edward moved in with me I'd end up tracking down Demitri and begging him to put me out of my misery.)

My place, my space. Besides, they all had their own lives. While I may have been a _little_ irrational about the whole thing at the time, my hypothesis was sound. Making them stay in Seattle, disrupting both my life and theirs on the off chance that the Volturi might find out Demitri hadn't done me in and send somebody else, would completely suck for all of us.

Dr. C was highly unamused. He actually accused me of being stubborn. And pigheaded. And suffering from some seriously overdeveloped suicidal tendencies. I hadn't even realized he knew _how_ to yell that loud. Or curse. That creatively. In that many languages. Hey, my repertoire may be limited to English, Spanish and the little bit of French I picked up in the two years I suffered through boarding school, but it didn't take a linguist to catch his gist. I was going to have to remember some of those.

Watching him slam out the door after wishing me straight to the devil gave me a certain amount of perverse satisfaction. At the time. The problem with fighting with Dr. C is that he's so revoltingly sincere_._ God, how could anyone be that genuinely _nice_?Ever have a morning after where you remember everything you did last night, and you'd give just about everything you owned to make it so you didn't? That was about how I felt when I woke up the next morning with a better grip on reality and the night before playing through my head in glorious Technicolor. He'd been trying to look out for me, and I'd tossed it back in his face. I tried to call and apologize, but he wasn't answering his phone either. Which meant I'd really pissed him off this time.

Take that greasy, squirmy feeling of remorse and toss in a phone call requesting a consult like, yesterday from a colleague I couldn't stand, a cold shower and a miniature flood courtesy of some broken pipes that was hell to clean up with a broken arm and you'll have some idea of exactly how nasty my mood was when I walked out my front door and slammed into Nick. Here was this hulk decked out in black from head to toe standing in front of my front door holding the long black raincoat I'd forgotten in one hand and a huge umbrella in the other. I think subconsciously I knew any vampire that bothered to break in and steal my raincoat could have killed me twice over already. That, or I was just too pissed off to be scared. Or I felt so guilty that a part of me was hoping he'd just bite me and put me out of Carlisle's misery. Either way, I asked him who the fuck he was and what the hell he was doing breaking into my apartment, he said Dr. C had hired him to babysit me and I should shut up, put my raincoat on like a good little girl and get my ass to work, and our glorious rivalry began.

Ever try and ignore someone when they're just _there_, all the time, staring over your shoulder? He wouldn't leave, no matter what I said or how badly I tried to get on his nerves. And trying to explain who he was and why he was there to the people at the hospital, not to mention every…single…person in my building, was ridiculous. Half of them covertly offered to call the cops, the other half wanted to know who my date was.

Nick almost fell down laughing when Mr. Golovnya threatened him with the tire iron. Unfortunately, not hard enough to actually hurt himself.

Dr. C still wasn't taking my phone calls which, looking back, was probably a good thing. Guilt went flying out the door when I realized what he did, but I refuse to leave a nasty message on voice mail. Too junior high for my taste. Since I couldn't get him on the phone long enough to call off his dog, however, I had to find other means of getting rid of my unwanted bodyguard. Unfortunately, ditching a vampire bodyguard is a lot harder than ditching a human one. It didn't matter when, or how, I left the apartment, somehow he was always waiting. I'd asked him more than once if he had some freaky precog thing the way Alice did, or mind reading powers like Edward, but he swore he was just that good.

I called bullshit, but since I couldn't prove it and he wouldn't admit it the battle raged on.

"You know, it's been over a month." Pulling open the door I ducked into the passenger seat of Nick's dark black sedan and out of the frosty November chill as quickly as I could. "If the Volturi were really going to send someone else after me, don't you think they'd have done it by now?"

Nick grunted, reaching over to turn up the heater while the engine revved. What the hell? Sure, there was snow dumping down outside, and the wind was whipping, but since when did a little winter weather bother a vampire?

"You're shivering," he said by way of explanation, reaching over and grabbing the corner of the belt, clicking it into the buckle. "Don't forget your seatbelt."

"Jesus, you're worse than my mother." I slapped his hand away and cut off the air. "The only thing that's going to kick out is cold till this thing has a chance to warm up. And I'm fine."

"How is your mother?" His voice was polite, but it was impossible to miss the gleam in his eye. Unlike me, my mother had been _thrilled_ to find out Dr. C had hired me a bodyguard. So much so that she'd accepted our explanation for why his eyes were cherry red without hesitation. I can't remember what story we spun, but I know if I'd tried to pull anything like that when I was a teenager she'd have called bullshit before I was halfway out the door. Mother had fawned over Nick like he was the long lost son she'd never had.

"She's fine." Grinding my teeth, I leaned back in my seat. I missed my car. The poor thing was sitting in the back of the parking lot, completely covered in snow. The windows were probably frozen shut, damn it. Unfortunately, I'd be lucky to get this stupid cast off by Christmas. Until then I had the option of either calling a cab or asking the Incredible Hulk for a ride to work. I couldn't stand being dependent on him for anything, but paying for a cab seemed ridiculous when he was going to be tagging along anyway.

"So who's on the agenda today?"

"Oh god, I don't know." Thunking my head against the window, I tried not to think too hard about what was lying in wait for me when I got to the hospital. I was on duty in the ER today, but since I was temporarily short the use of one of my arms they were gleefully accommodating me by having a fourth year medical student follow me around for my entire freaking shift. I got someone to do the grunt work, setting stitches and running lines, they gained practical, hands-on experience and the administration got to call themselves a teaching hospital. Whoop-de-fucking-do.

It wasn't that I minded med students. I was one myself not too long ago. It was just that all of the students they'd brought in to work with me so far had been either insanely annoying or completely incompetent. There had been the girl that couldn't stop flirting with the paramedics, the young man who'd cheerfully bounced one of those stupid bouncy balls the entire time I was talking and the former tech who spent the whole shift trying to look down the front of my shirt, knocking over two IV poles and a shelf of drugs in the process. Not to mention at least two phlebotomy carts. And they were ones that actually had a clue.

I couldn't wait to see what they had waiting for me today.

"Good morning Dr. Donovan."

"James."

With a quick nod to the charge nurse I slipped behind the admissions desk to see what we had on base. Stomach pain, stomach pain, dehydration, headache, stitches…looked like a fairly painless kind of day.

"I know you just got here, but Dr. Matthews has the flu and _really_ needs to go home. Like, yesterday. Would you mind…?"

James trailed off. With his dark skin, thin, lanky build, thick Jamaican accent and multi-colored dredlocks, you'd be more likely to tag him as a model for a Caribbean vacation than a very capable medical professional. The patients loved him because he had a ready smile and a pocket full of lollipops. The staff loved him because he knew what the hell he was doing and he did it without any drama. I was glad he was going to be the one I was working with today.

"No problem. What do you need me to do?"

"You'll need to check in with him, but," he nodded toward the brightly colored screen, "it looks like Kara and Mrs. Pips are the only ones he has right now."

"Two patients?" I arched an eyebrow. "Someone declare it National Matthews Day when I wasn't looking?"

"Funny."

Turning around, I grimaced. Jason Matthews, a third year surgical resident, was your average west coast surfer dude down to the blonde highlights and blue hair, both of which stood out in stark relief against a face that was almost as green as his scrubs. His usually bright smile was wan, and I could smell the faintest hint of vomit. He looked like he'd spent the better part of the morning in genuflection to the porcelain gods.

"Jesus Matthews, you look like shit. Why the hell did you even come to work today?"

"It's cold and flu season. Every third patient and half the staff has this stupid bug, which means there was no one to cover. And _someone_," he waved his arm toward me, "wasn't answering her phone."

"What?" Scowling, I dug my cell phone out of my pocket and gave it a shake. Damn it. The battery was dead. "Piece of crap. I just charged this."

"When was the last time you upgraded? This thing's like a million years old." Jason sneered amiably at the plain red flip phone. "At least you can take comfort in knowing that it died of natural causes."

"So speaks the walking dead. Give me the rundown, then get the hell out of here. I don't want you breathing on me right now."

He grinned, deliberately letting out a puff of air well away from my face as he turned and led me through the doors leading into the bustling ER. He might have been a smartass, but he knew I'd kill him if his horsing around got me sick.

"There's not much. Lee and Chan have been covering for me as much as they can. Mrs. Pips is in nine. She goofed the settings on her pump again. I've already given her a shot, now it's just a matter of monitoring to make sure her sugar goes back down. Apparently it's far too 'cheeky' of me to suggest she get through the week without a Quarter Pounder and onion rings." He rolled his eyes. Mrs. Pips was a familiar figure around here. A diabetic with a penchant for fast food, the woman was 100 if she was a day and enjoying every minute of it.

Then he sobered. "Kara's in three. She's looking rough-scrapes, contusions. I stitched up a slice in her arm, but radiology's backed up all to hell. She's got a nice little lump on her head that should be scanned, and more than likely a broken ankle to boot."

Fury seethed and roiled, threatening to explode. I wanted to scream at the injustice of it all.

"What's Dad's story this time?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"Bicycle accident."

"My ass."

He sighed, disgust curling the corner of his mouth. "I know it. You know it. But no one's been able to prove it. I guess we should just be grateful he's still bringing her here."

"Only because this is the only hospital in Seattle that takes his insurance, and if he didn't people would start asking questions he doesn't want to answer."

"This gentleman is in trouble with the law?"

I all but crawled out of my skin at Nick's polite voice in my ear. I'd completely forgotten he was standing there.

"No, unfortunately," answered Jason, glaring toward the room in question. "If he was, maybe his daughter wouldn't have as many 'accidents' as she does."

"I see." Nick's back straightened, his face becoming a cool mask. "Room three, you said?"

"No, Nick…"

Too late. He was already striding across the room.

"Shit, I have to stop him." I quickly grabbed the chart Jason handed me, frowning when I couldn't tug it out of his hands. "I thought you wanted to go home, Matthews."

"I do." Jason hesitated, looking over my head to where Nick was quietly sliding open the door to Kara's room. "Listen," he said quietly, "I don't know who that dude is that's been following you around. Quite frankly, he looks more like an ex-con than anyone you'd take home to mom."

"I wouldn't doubt that in the least," I grumbled, just loud enough for Jason to hear. He flashed a quick grin.

"Thing is, we both know that son of a bitch is going to duck and dodge the legal system until he can't lie his way out of it anymore. Kara and Jeremy don't have that long. So if your friend there's on our side and wants to put the fear of god into that creep, I'm willing to look the other way for a few minutes and let him do it."

"How very ethical of you, Dr. Matthews." Yanking hard, I pulled the chart out his hands with enough force to send me stumbling back. "I'll take your advice under consideration. Now clock out, go home and find a toilet to puke in before you contaminate my emergency room."

Part of me wanted to agree with him and just let Nick do whatever he wanted to do. Kara's dad had it coming to him. Problem was, I was pretty sure if I gave Nick the green light the man was going to turn up dead. We hadn't exactly had a heart-to-heart on the topic, but he made no secret of the fact that the only reason he was keeping me alive was because Carlisle had asked him too. I guess it was hard to put much value into the lifespan of something you basically considered to be food. He wouldn't think twice about turning Mr. Beckett into that evening's entrée.

I hated that I was half tempted to tell him to go for it.

"Oh, Max!"

Jason's voice, and the maniacal glee hiding underneath it, stopped me in my tracks.

"What?" I asked suspiciously.

"Your med student's in with Lee running a line in one. She can't _wait_ to meet you."

With that he lifted a hand in a quick wave and took off for the door, leaving me standing there frozen in the middle of the room glaring after him. Damn it. Well hell, here we go.

The emergency room late in the morning is a quiet place. Most of our non-emergencies took themselves to their doctor's office instead of the ER, so walking across the room all I heard was the clatter of keys as the techs entered information and the occasional beep of an IV line running empty. The urgency that rolled off the staff in waves during the Friday night rush was missing, replaced by crisp efficiency and friendly smiles. Answering a few of them I slipped into Kara's room and did a double take.

Nick was sitting by her bed, Jeremy on his lap, playing a cheerful game of "I Spy" that had both children giggling. His normally stern face was relaxed into a warm smile I'd never seen before while he pointedly avoided meeting my eyes. Mrs. Beckett stood at the head of the bed, a shaky smile on her face and a brand new shiner poorly covered by a long sweep of bangs that hadn't been there last time I saw her. Mr. Beckett stood in the corner, arms crossed, glaring at the man by the bed. He didn't seem to have a mark on him, but he also wasn't starting crap with Nick, so something had to have gone down there. I'd have to wait until later to find out what it was.

Any inclination I might have had to yell at Nick for interfering disappeared the minute I saw Kara. The little girl looked like she'd been run through a blender. Her face was covered in scratches and contusions, her lips were cracked and bleeding, and there was an ugly purple lump on the side of her forehead. My heart almost broke when I looked at her thin arms and legs, with one foot bent at an unnatural angle. We were going to have to set that, and it wasn't going to be pretty.

"Oh wow! What happened to you beautiful?" A small, bouncy redhead sporting a curly ponytail, a face full of freckles and pink scrubs slipped into the room wearing an earnest smile. Oh, good grief. Please tell me this wasn't today's learning experience. I couldn't deal with perky on the best of days.

"I wrecked my bike," said Kara in a small voice, her eyes flicking to her father. The young woman followed her gaze. I saw her lips draw tight, but when she spoke her voice was just as bright as it was before.

"Seemed like my bike was always dumping me here, there and everywhere when I was about your age. The darn thing had a mind of its own." Her voice was thick and dripping with Southern charm. Georgia, or one of the Carolinas. What the hell was she doing in sunless Washington?

She turned to me, holding out her hand. "Dr. Donovan. I'm MaryBeth." Oh god, even her name sounded like she should be on the top of the pyramid at cheer camp. It was going to be a long ass day. "Dr. Lee says I'm working with you today?"

"You talk pretty," said Jeremy, smiling shyly up at her before sticking his thumb in his mouth and burying his face on Nick's shoulder. MaryBeth looked down and beamed.

"That's because I'm from Georgia. Do you know what they have in Georgia?" Jeremy shook his head mutely. Kara stared in wide eyed fascination as MaryBeth walked over, putting on hand gently on the edge of the bed and crouching down so she could look both children in the eye. "Georgia's where you find fairy stones. And anyplace that's filled with fairy stones has to be filled with fairies, right? When little girls go to sleep at night the fairies come by and fill your room with fairy dust, and in the morning you wake up talking like this."

She drew the words out in a sickening drawl I hadn't heard since Steel Magnolias. Kara and Jeremy were giggling, their eyes temporarily clear of the fear and despair usually written all over their faces. I had to give her credit, she was good with kids. The question was, was she good at anything else?

I got my answer soon enough. With a minimum of fuss she sweet talked the radiologist into getting Kara back for her x-ray and CAT scan ASAP, set and splinted the little girl's leg and sent her home with a hug and a reminder to go see the orthopedist (again) the following day. I noticed Nick followed the family out, but I didn't have time to ask any questions. There was a six car accident on the Interstate, and we had patients coming in waves.

By the end of the day I was sure of three things: 1) Ditzy cheerleader or not, MaryBeth was the first med student they'd managed to find that was worth a damn, 2) If I never treated another burn injury it would be too soon, and 3) Anyone stupid enough to text and drive needed to be taken out back and shot. Fifteen casualties and four fatalities, all the result of a sixteen year old girl who couldn't wait for her exit to send a photo on her cell phone.

The driver and two of her passengers had been DOA. Even though it was impossible to feel anything but regret for a life snuffed out at such a young age, I couldn't help a measure of relief that she was never going to know how much damage her negligence had caused. If she had lived she'd have been facing manslaughter charges, and everything that went with it.

"Is that everyone?"

MaryBeth leaned next to the whiteboard holding the patient list I was currently scanning, head tipped back in exhaustion against the sterile white walls. Our shift had ended at least three hours ago (that was the last time I looked at a clock; my internal clock reminded me it had been at least an hour since then). She'd stayed without complaint, and I found myself silently giving her props.

Out loud, I said, "We're good. The next shift will finish up from here." Glancing over at her, I smiled. "Go home, get something to eat. You did good today."

"Really?" The exhaustion in her face was chased away by a brilliant smile. "Thank you for that. I always feel so…unqualified, I guess, when I'm in here."

"We're all unqualified." Lord knows nobody knew that better than me. I had to wonder what these guys would say if they knew the amount of time I spent stitching up creatures they only heard about in their children's bedtime stories. In a rare moment of affection I reached out and squeezed her shoulder. "The secret is to look like you know what you're doing, muddle through and hope you don't kill anyone by the end of the day."

She smiled gratefully, eyes suspiciously shiny, before she turned and started walking for the door. Watching her go, I couldn't help but remember my first day in the ER. I'd felt hopelessly overwhelmed, crying tears of relief when my shift was over and I got to go home, and that hadn't been anything like this. She'd gotten her trial by fire, and she'd held up well. Impulsively, I shouted, "MaryBeth!"

There was the barest hint of fear on her face when she around. "Yes Dr. Donovan?"

"See you tomorrow?"

Her grin could have launched rockets.

"Yes ma'am."

She walked away with a giddy bounce in her step. Still smiling, I spun back around and slammed straight into Nick and James. Nick's face was set in its usual amused smirk, but James was staring in exaggerated disbelief.

"Did I hear that right?" he asked, cupping a hand around one ear. "Did the woman who hates having students along just offer to take the scrumptious MaryBeth under your proverbial wing?"

"No hitting on the students James." I bumped his shoulder hard enough to knock him off-balance. "And no, I didn't offer to take her under my wing. I just…suggested I wouldn't be completely averse to having her with me for the rest of her ER rotation."

"Which is a miracle in and of itself." Slinging an arm across my shoulders James guided me toward the door that led to the cafeteria. "Almost as much of a miracle as the fact that you didn't nab so much as a bag of crackers this entire shift and the body count hasn't gone up."

My stomach growled threateningly right on cue, making James laugh.

"Yeah, I thought it might be something like that. That's why I called down to the cafeteria and asked them to load you up a plate. You made your last student cry, you know," he continued conversationally.

"I most certainly did not!"

"You most certainly did. Last I heard he was talking about transferring to anywhere but here. If he didn't drop out of med school entirely, of course."

Nick, of course, picked that exact moment to chime in. "You were a bit hard on the young man."

"He almost blew up an oxygen tank!" I exploded in disbelief, fixing both of them with a baleful glare.

"Granted, but calling him a dim witted nimrod with the approximate IQ of a sea anemone and fewer survival instincts may have been a bit excessive."

"Not in the least," I promised dryly. "You obviously didn't meet him. He's lucky that's all I called him."

"Yes, well, regardless." James cleared his throat and smiled as we walked into the cafeteria and I made a beeline for the bagel bar. "I'm glad you finally found one you liked. Time to change the subject. Human sacrifice is bad for the digestion. What are you guys doing for Thanksgiving?"

"Noth-"

"I believe," Nick broke in smoothly, "that Jazmine and the Cullens are expecting you to join them in California this year. Jazmine left you a message last night."

I froze midgrab, mind spinning, trying to remember what the hell Nick was talking about. Oh yeah. The Mojave were ready to sign the deal with the vamps. Since we were headed down anyway, Jazmine's family had invited all of us to stay and celebrate the holiday. I didn't even know the Mojave _had_ a Thanksgiving celebration, but curiosity about Native American holidays took a distant second in my mind to the sheer horror of having to show up in the middle of the Mojave tribe with a human-blood-sucking vampire hot on my heels. Not to mention having to spend the holiday with Dr. C, who I still wasn't entirely happy with (and who wasn't exactly happy with me) and David, who was going to spend the whole time we were there mooning over Jaz.

"Aw shit."

This was going to be the crappiest holiday in history. Ah well. At least there'd be food, right?

**A/N: Thanks for tuning in guys! I'd love to hear what y'all are thinking here. Please please please? Also currently taking votes on Max's love life, I love some of the messages I'm getting from y'all! **

**I'd also like to give a quick shout-out to all of you who read and PM'd me comments on "Georgia On My Mind." You know who you are! I know Dead Like Me isn't everyone's thing, and I appreciate those of you who tuned in anyway. You guys are the best! **

**Love you all!**


	13. Jake:Unlikely Enemies

**Thanksgiving**

**Somewhere in the Mojave Desert**

**Jake**

"This is a really bad idea."

Bella slumped against the door, lips set in a cute, petulant little pout while she stared out at the highway whipping past us. It was too cold to roll the windows down and let some fresh air into the stuffy cab, but even with the windows up and the heater blasting there was enough of a chill that certain…assets…were visibly perky through the top of her v-necked blouse, helpfully lifted by the arms she'd wrapped tightly around her ribs. I was really going to have to thank Jenny for urping up on the yeti-like sweater she had on earlier. The view on this drive wouldn't have been nearly as interesting.

Dragging my mind off my wife's cleavage and back onto the conversation was easier said than done. Why? Because this wasn't something I particularly wanted to talk about. I would have laughed at the fact that she spent her days living on a reservation surrounded by wolves and vampires and still managed to have her reservations about spending the holidays with them, but her words were a perfect echo of the ones that had been jumping up and down and tap-dancing in my brain for the last hundred miles. Something about this whole thing smelled rotten.

The only person Eli needed to be there when they signed this agreement was Carlisle. I could understand asking me to come along. This whole alpha thing made me the official pack representative (unfortunately). I could almost understand inviting Jaz and Quil. The Mojave tribe was the closest thing to family Jaz had. Poor kid had been dumped, baby seat and all, on the outskirts of the reservation by parents who didn't give enough of a damn about her to make sure she didn't starve to death before someone found her. I could see using this whole mess as an excuse to spend the holidays with the parents she probably didn't get to see nearly as much as she wanted to.

What I couldn't see was bringing the entire coven and half the pack down, but that was exactly what we were doing. Sam and Emily, Embry, Jared and Kim, Paul and Rachel and Andy were somewhere behind us, along with the Cullen clan traveling _en masse. _Even Max had been invited, which wouldn't have been all that strange (Jaz _was_ her best friend) if she'd spent more than five minutes with Jaz's family when they were in college.

Since we were supposed to be on the same side I'd tried to avoid the thought that we were walking into an ambush, but Bella's words had a five-star volley of bells and whistles going off in my head. Was it just a feeling, or was there something going on I needed to know about? Something Bella might have overheard hanging around with her family, by some chance?

The not-too-subtle clearing of a throat from the other side of the seat snapped me out of my depressing inner monologue and back into the present, where my wife was apparently waiting for a response. The question was, to what? Quickly flipping through my memory I grabbed on to the last thing she said that I remembered and hoped it wasn't too far off.

"What makes you think this is a bad idea?"

She gave me a withering look that made me cringe. Oh yeah, I was so busted.

"Like I said-a couple of times-we're taking a car full of vampires into a reservation of shapeshifters that doesn't want anything to do with vampires. Period. In the meantime, we're also getting ready to sign on the dotted line to start an alliance with one of those shapeshifters to take on the most dangerous vampires in the world. Which, may I add, you're probably not going to be able to do in Forks. So you're going to be wandering right into the heart of Volturi territory."

Did I mention Bella wasn't happy about the fact that we were wheeling and dealing with Demitri? She'd spent so many years building the Volturi up as this unstoppable force that it was inconceivable to her that anyone would actually _try_ to take them on. She had no problem with the idea of a revolt in Volterra. She just didn't want any of us to have anything to do with it. Normally I'd have said she was being paranoid, but you didn't screw with the biggest bully on the block and think nothing was going to happen. There was no dodging the fact that some of us weren't going to walk away from this, and I wasn't even going to try.

"Didn't stop you last year."

Bella opened her mouth, then closed it again, pursing her lips into an adorably stubborn moue that told me I'd won. Until she could figure out a perfectly logical reason I was completely wrong. You got used to that sort of thing when you'd been married for a while. I'd bought myself some time. I'd take what I could get.

Besides, it was kind of hard to tell someone they're being stupid when you already did the exact same thing. Without backup. With children in tow. Yes, we were providing the muscle for a major coup right in the heart of Volterra, but I was going in with two packs' worth of shifters and at least two covens at my back. Which was a hell of a lot more than Bella'd had in Italy with her last year. And there was no way in hell I was bringing Bella, Billy or Jenny anywhere near this mess.

"Is Demitri supposed to be there?"

The grumpy undertone in her voice told me this wasn't over.

"No. We've already got the agreement from the Italian vamps. Now it's just a matter of sitting down with Eli and the other alphas and getting them to sign it."

"And you guys already signed it?"

"Yeah." Carlisle and I had had that sucker signed, sealed and ready to deliver shortly after our shed had been torched. There was no way in hell the timing on that had been a coincidence. I didn't care if someone was trying to tell us to stay out of this mess or making sure we were right in the middle of it, it was time for this to be over.

I had to admit, the Italian vamps hadn't left us out in the cold when it came to the terms of our agreement. After our new arrangement went into place they basically promised to keep their people on their side of the drink unless we asked for help, and we promised to do the same. Any previous _arrangements_ that the Volturi might have had but not bothered to tell anyone about would be null and void. And a representative from each group would make the trip to Volterra any time anything major was going down so we didn't get left out of the loop.

It was a good deal, like a giant, supernatural UN, and I didn't have to think too hard before signing on the dotted line. I just hoped Eli would step up and things would work out the way we wanted them to.

My mind was still chewing on what was going to happen once the agreement was signed (and what we were going to do if Eli wouldn't) when we reached the edge of the reservation-and the people lying in wait. Bouncing out of the truck, I threw my arms around the tall, skinny, short haired young woman standing there smiling at me and squeezed until she squeaked.

"Leah!"

"Oomph! Get off me, you idiot," she laughed, affection thick in her voice when she wrapped her arms around me and squeezed me back. "Keep it up and I'm going to let Peter have you evicted for assault."

"Like anyone's going to believe me. I could eat you and they'd declare it a public service. Probably throw me a parade and everything." She yanked back and slugged me in the gut hard enough to knock the wind out of me. Predictable Leah. Standing up, I shook off the aftershocks and stretched a hand out to the serious-looking man standing behind her. He was sporting a new pair of glasses and his skin was a helluva more pale than it had been the last time I saw him. That's what happened when you started riding a desk. Since he wasn't the type of guy you could crack on, however, (and how the hell did he stay married to Leah?) I settled for, "Peter, how are you?"

"Good, thanks." He gave my hand a firm squeeze. "Glad you could make it."

"Well, we're almost here." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Bella slip out of the truck, a confused look on her face. "What's going on? They decide we're not welcome after all? Cause I gotta tell ya, I haven't seen a flea in weeks. Even bathed and everything."

Leah rolled her eyes. "It would serve you right if you did get fleas, you jerk. Eli's still having fits about having the Cullens on the reservation, so we decided we were moving the whole shindig over to the hotel where we got married. Carlisle's already there, and Jaz and Quil rode over with Nathaniel. We're just waiting on you."

"Well, we're here." I thumbed over my shoulder. "You guys want a lift?"

"Are you kidding? Did you forget the part where it's below freezing out here?"

Leah huffed into the air, the silver cloud reminding me that even though I ran at a comfy 108 year-round it was still really freaking cold.

"What happened, getting wimpy in your old age?"

She rolled her eyes, nodding toward her husband. "Human, remember? We'll drive over like normal people, thanks."

"You don't know the meaning of the word normal. But suit yourself."

Truth be told, I was a little bit embarrassed. I don't know why, but for some reason I always forgot Leah's husband was human. Probably had something to do with the fact that it took a supernatural amount of willpower to keep from wringing her scrawny little neck.

"I always do." With a cheeky grin and a pat on the cheek she and Peter disappeared into their car and whipped around the truck, sending mud splashing everywhere. Shaking my head, I jogged back over to Bella.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah, we're good." I smiled at her, then back at the two wide eyed faces staring back at me, before giving in and planting a good, hard kiss on those frozen little lips. "They've decided they want the reservation to stay vamp free, so we're moving this party to the hotel."

"Oh, cool."

Except for a moan of gratitude when she stuck her hands back over the heater Bella was silent for the rest of the trip. I kept sneaking sideways glances at her, but her face was completely serene as she stared at the road ahead. She couldn't possibly still be pissed about the whole not paying attention thing, could she? All right, so she could, but the silent treatment really wasn't her style. Bella loved pulling pieces off of my hide on a regular basis. Was there something going on I didn't know about?

Finally I gave in and pulled over, cutting the engine and turning to prop my arm on the back of the seat. "Alright, what's up?"

"What's up with what?"

"What's up with the silent treatment? You're thinking something, and I can't take it anymore. So spill."

She rolled her eyes, leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest. "I was just thinking it was weird for them to invite everyone down and plan on celebrating the holidays and still tell the Cullens they aren't welcome on the reservation."

Ah. So that was it. Bella never could figure out why anyone who happened to be in a sane state of mind would object to having the leaches around. Without a word I pulled back out onto the road.

"Oh, c'mon Jake. You can't be mad at me."

"I'm not honey. It's just…" I huffed in frustration. Yeah, I liked Carlisle, but Bella just didn't get it. "You of all people should know that the Cullens are the exception, not the rule. There are a hundred perfectly logical reasons not to spend your time with a pack of bloodsuckers."

"And Eli could give me every one," she finished, smiling. "I know sweetheart. I just wish that they'd get to know them the way that we do. Then maybe they'd feel a little better about letting them come around."

I didn't have the heart to tell her there was no way in hell that was going to happen if it hadn't happened by now. Fortunately that was about the time we got to the hotel, so I didn't have to say anything at all.

Jaz and Quil were standing out front with Jaz's dad, a tall guy whose name I couldn't remember but I vaguely remembered meeting at Leah's wedding. That day he'd looked friendly and…well, not like the kind of person who'd raise a daughter that could take out a vampire. Today he just looked grim and…well, more than a little intimidating. I didn't envy Quil in the least for having to deal with that. I just had to deal with Charlie, and he'd been bucking for Bella and I to get together the whole time.

"Bella!" Jaz jogged over, throwing her arms around Bella when she stepped out of the car. I couldn't help but laugh. Bells was a shrimp compared to me, and Jaz barely hit her shoulder. She was such a bossy little thing you forgot how tiny she was. "I'm so glad you guys made it. You remember Nathaniel?"

"It's nice to see you again," the man behind her said politely, holding out his hand for me to shake. His eyes weren't on me though. They were glued to Bella and the babies. "So, Jazmine, when are you going to get around to making me a grandfather, hmm?"

Jaz groaned, wrapping her arm through his. "We talked about this, Nathaniel."

"Bah." He waved a hand in the air, glaring at Quil, who shifted uncomfortably. I suddenly had a feeling we'd walked in on a conversation we weren't really supposed to be here for. Unfortunately, I was right. "These two, they have the right idea. They got married, they had babies, they settled down. You think you're going to be young forever? You…" He pointed at Quil. "You've been sleeping with my daughter for years. But you say you have no intention of making her a wife."

"Not now," Jaz hissed, blushing to the tips of her hair. I sympathized, but looking at Quil I could definitely see where he was coming from. Jaz's relationship wasn't exactly a well kept secret. Charlie wasn't amused by Bella sharing a house with Edward through college, and she came from a much less…traditional background. If she'd had this guy for a dad I wouldn't have had a thing to worry about from Dedward. He would have ripped his head off years ago and saved me the trouble.

You know, now that you mention it…

Yes, I still didn't like him. Sue me. If last year had proved anything it was that Edward wasn't out of Bella's life by a long shot. He was just kind of there, lurking around the edges, screwing up everything I'd worked so freaking hard to make happen between the two of us. So you'd have to excuse me if the mental picture of "accidentally" giving Eli the go-ahead rip his head off warmed me all the way down to my warm, furry toes.

"Earth to Jake. You in there somewhere?"

Shaking myself out of a sweet daydream where Leah and I were using one of Edward's arms to play fetch I realized Jaz and Quil were standing there, eyebrows raised, and Billy and Nathaniel had disappeared. Probably went to go find Jaz's foster mom. Bella had said she'd been waiting for us to get there so she could get her grandbaby fix, since she wasn't going to get it with Jaz. Bella, Jenny in her arms, had elbowed me in the side. Rolling her eyes, she grabbed Jaz by the arm and dragged her inside.

"Thanks for the rescue," Quil muttered, falling into step with me as we headed toward the door. "He's been on my case since we got here."

"Yeah, well, you're sleeping with his daughter. The man has a point." Wrapping my arm around his shoulders, I grinned. "When are you gonna make an honest woman out of her and start raising the next generation of Atearas?"

"I asked. She won't marry me."

Quil's words froze me in my tracks. "Say what?"

He shifted, looking miserable and embarrassed. "I'm sick of sleeping alone. Figured after six years it was about time I got off my ass and asked her to marry me. Bought her this huge diamond. Got down on one knee and everything. She shot me down."

"Jeez, seriously? Why?"

Quil shrugged, leaning against one of the poles flanking the porch. "Dunno. Says she doesn't want to get married. Said it works for some people, but she just wasn't interested."

"This isn't more of this stupid imprinting shit, is it?"

He sighed, thunking his head back against the concrete column. "Ow. Fuck. Yes. No. Maybe. Fuck if I know."

"Is there anyone imprinting hasn't completely screwed?" I grumbled. "Sam dumped Leah. You imprinted on a fucking two year old. I spent years running away from Bella. And Rachel got stuck with Paul."

Quil snorted. "Ain't that the truth. Jared and Kim are doing all right. And Embry and Andy were solid until…"

"Until the psycho demon decided to fuck with his imprint," I finished, smirking. "I think Jared and Kim are the only ones who _didn't_ get completely hosed."

"So one out of six." Quil huffed in frustration. "The bitch is, if I knew it was just imprinting that was bugging her I could get her past it. We did it before. But I don't have a damn clue what's going on in that crazy-assed head of hers."

"Who the hell knows what goes on in their heads?" I thunked him on the shoulder and felt a little better when he flashed me a quick smile. If you'd have asked me ten minutes ago I'd have said it was Quil dragging his feet about settling down. I never would have guessed that Jaz was the one putting on the brakes, and I didn't have clue what to say to make him feel better.

"Jacob." Eli saved me having to come up with a response. Quil and I both straightened up. "A word?"

"Sure."

"Want me to hang around?" Quil's voice was soft, almost inaudible to the human ear. I knew it was just a courtesy. Eli was a shifter. He could hear every word we said.

"You can stay, Mr. Ateara," he said coolly. "This won't take long."

I eyed him suspiciously. Something was…off about the way he was talking. Eli wasn't my best friend on a good day, but I hadn't done anything to deserve the black look I was getting. That I could think of. Unless I did.

"What's up Eli?"

He stepped closer, close enough that his breath danced on my skin. "I don't like you," he said simply. "I don't think you've got the balls to lead this pack. Your predecessor was too weak to man up and break the treaty, but at least he hated those blood suckers as much as we did. The fact that they're standing on my doorstep tells me you don't have the guts to deal with it either.

"Now, we're going to sign this stupid agreement because the Volturi are a problem, and thanks to you they're our problem now too. But once things are over and things are back to normal, there are going to be some changes around here. Starting with you."

"What the fuck does that mean?" I snarled. If I didn't know better, I'd say Eli was bucking for my job. But he already had one pack. What the hell would he do with another one?

"I understand there was a fire at your house a few months ago," he said, his tone slipping from brash to silky. "Did you find who did it?"

"Traveling vamps," Quil snarled, stepping up beside me. "One of our patrols ran them to the edge of the reservation."

"Ah, a patrol of new wolves that couldn't chase them off the rez?"

"Paul and Jared have been doing this longer than I have," I snapped, giving Quil a nod. This wasn't going to get violent. Yet. "Their tracks just disappeared once they hit the edge of the rez."

"Has it occurred to you that perhaps they doubled back-that perhaps those same vamps that tried to burn your house are actually living among you? Ah…" he smiled. "Of course not. Because your vegetable loving vampires would never do anything like that, right?"

"No, they wouldn't," I said slowly, trying to see where he was going with this. Eli hated the Cullens, but it was a big leap to go from disliking them to accusing them of trying to burn down the house with Bella and the kids still in it. Then again, the shed had obviously been torched as a warning. No one had actually gotten hurt. There was always the chance that…

What the hell was I thinking?

"The Cullens might try and kill me sooner or later, but they love Bella. They'd never try and hurt her."

"And that attitude, Jacob, is why you're not fit to lead this pack. Better watch your back. Because one of these days you're going to turn around, and I'm going to be chewing on it."

**A/N: Hello all! No, I didn't forget about you. This is the first of what's turning out to be an 8-10 chapter story arc that really needs to come out "just so" if it's going to make any sense, so I'm going to get those all written before I post to make sure there aren't any stupid mistakes. So if I don't update for a bit yet, please bear with! I promise, there'll be lots of goodies coming your way when I do. **

**In other news, real life is insane at the moment. I'm working on not one but two full manuscripts for a client, plus two of my own right now, on top of my usual PR gig, and working on building a website in the process, so I'm not getting as much time to write as I might like. Which is a roundabout way of saying that's why I haven't posted in a while, and putting this story arc together might take a little longer than I might like. But it'll be well worth it when it's done **

**In the meantime, feel free to send your thoughts my way on what Jake should do about Eli, and what Quil can do to get his kind-of father-in-law off his back! **


	14. Bella: Unexpected Friends

**November**

**Thanksgiving with the Mojave**

**Bella**

"What the hell was that all about?" I hissed. "Nathaniel looked like he wanted to eat Quil for breakfast."

"Ugh." Jaz tipped her head back and groaned, pulling open the door. Our heels clicked against the hard stones as we stepped into the warmth of the hotel lobby. "Did you see how fast he scooped Billy out of the truck? He's got the worst case of grandfather lust I've ever seen. He and Eleanor have decided that now that I'm through school, established in the practice and seeing someone I actually might keep it's time for me to get married, settle down and start popping out babies."

"Doesn't sound so bad."

"For you, maybe."

I jerked to a stop.

"Gee, thanks Jaz. Glad to know I'm the kind of woman who should be home minding the fire while the rest of you are out taking the world by storm."

All right, so I probably didn't need to be nasty about it. It was a sore spot for me. Jake and I had been an item since my senior year of college. We'd tied the knot barely a year after graduation, and Billy hadn't been far behind. So while Jaz and Max had been going out and stretching their legs in the big, wide, wonderful world outside of academia I'd been home changing diapers.

I wouldn't have traded a second of the experience, but there were times I felt as if in many ways, I'd been left behind. Catching the sarcasm in my voice (because really, I couldn't have laid it on any thicker) she winced.

"You know that's not what I meant. You're a natural nester, Bella. You were born for the whole husband, kids, white picket fence scene. I'm not." She shrugged, her pert little nose wrinkling. "I _like_ having my own space. I like that I have a quiet house to come home to at the end of the day. Now that we actually _have _a relationship that exists outside of the bedroom, I like that Quil and I have our own separate lives and aren't living in each other's pocket.

"Besides, let's face it. Between clinic hours and the pack I'm on call 24/7, and it's just going to get worse after Carlisle leaves. What the hell kind of life is that for a kid? I'd never get to see them."

"So you don't want a family? Like, ever?"

I couldn't see Jaz stepping away from the whole home and hearth thing. She'd been crazy about Quil for years, even when she didn't think they had a prayer in hell of having any kind of future together. The thought of her putting the brakes on that relationship when they'd finally begun was inconceivable.

Jaz looked at me, wide eyed, then cracked up.

"Oh Bells, you should see your face. Of course I want a family. The thing is, I _have_ a family. Between the pack and the Cullens I'm tripping over family every time I turn around."

"And kids?"

She sighed, eyes resting on Jenny, playing with the ends of the curly red ponytail spilling over the shoulder of the comfy blue ski parka I rarely saw her without. Which was hilarious once you figured out Jaz was a bigger klutz on a pair of skis than I was.

"Not right now," she said finally. "Maybe I'll change my mind one of these days, but for now the pack babies are all the kids I need. I know anytime I need a fix I can come grab Billy or Jenny for the weekend, or scoop up Abram or Sam Jr., and I can give them back and get a full night's sleep when I'm done." She held out her arms and smiled wryly. "Bottom line is, I make an awesome girlfriend and a great auntie, but I don't have any overwhelming need to be either wife or mom right now."

Passing Jenny over, I chewed on what she just said. I personally thought Jaz would make an awesome mom, but she was right-her life was crazy.

"What does Quil think about all of this?" I asked, going right to the heart of the matter.

Tugging on one of Jenny's dark curls, Jaz shifted uncomfortably. Her eyes flicked up, then away, before settling on mine and sparkling with wry humor.

"He wants me to marry him."

"Wait, what?"

Hearing the guys' voices outside I realized we were still basically standing in the middle of the hotel. Grabbing Jaz's hand I dragged her past the elevators to a little alcove in front of the windows, where we'd be invisible to anyone walking by unless they headed over to check out the view.

"Bells, if you wanted to make out with me all you had to do was say so." Shifting a fussy Jenny to her other hip (memo to me: it was just about lunch time) she smirked. "The last time I was in this alcove Quil had his hands…"

"Gah!" I held up one hand to cut her off. "I do NOT need to know where Quil had his hands. Right now, that is," I amended when she threw me a skeptical look. All right, so our sex lives weren't exactly sacred. But I could get the details out of her later. Right now, I had bigger fish to fry. "Quil proposed, and you didn't bother to mention it?"

"If you want to call it that. I swear, my boyfriend has to be the most clueless guy on the planet."

"What do you mean?"

Jaz shook her head and leaned back against the wall. Jenny must have been getting heavy, but when I reached out to take her back she just shook her head and brushed my hand aside with an absent, "She's fine."

"Don't get me wrong. He set the stage like a champ. I think he's been watching Lifetime again, not that he'd ever admit it. Anyway, he did the whole down on one knee thing with this gorgeous diamond ring-god Bella, you should have seen this thing, it was amazing-and just as that familiar giddy, nauseous feeling that women have felt since the beginning of time starts crawling up my throat he says, 'I think it's time we got married.'"

The silence hanging in the air was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.

"And?"

"No, no and." Jaz laughed. "That was it. Just, 'I think it's time we got married.' No hearts and flowers, nothing fancy. Not even an, 'I love you, let me spend the rest of my life letting you wait on me hand and foot.' I would have shot him down just for that. As it was, it was all I could do to keep from grabbing the toaster off the kitchen counter and pounding him over the head with it."

"Wow." All I could do was stare at her. All right, so Jake was a little more romantic than the average wolf. I mean, he bought my engagement ring when he was sixteen and held onto it for _years_ before he finally got to pop the question. I'd melted, no questions asked.

Romance might not have been his style, but you'd think even Quil could do better than, "I think we should get married"!

"What did he say when you turned him down?"

"He asked why, I told him I didn't want to get married, the ring disappeared and that was that." She raised one shoulder, face scrunched in confusion. "Actually, he took it pretty well, all things considered. And he hasn't brought it up since. Maybe he changed his mind?"

The look on her face was so hopeful, I had to laugh. Most women would be insulted by the idea that a man had proposed to them, then forgotten about it only days later. Then again, if Jaz was anything like most of the women I knew I'd have hated her on sight.

I couldn't see Quil popping the question, then changing his mind. He'd worked his ass off to convince her he wanted a relationship in the first place. There was no way he was going to pop the question, then try and backpedal. Quil wasn't that stupid.

Then again…

Something else she'd said was pricking at the back of my mind.

"This conversation isn't over," I said threateningly, smiling when she rolled her eyes and gave an exaggerated groan of frustration, "but did you say Carlisle was leaving?"

"Yeah, right after the New Year. He didn't tell you?"

"No, he hasn't said a word." I frowned, chewing it over. Of course Carlisle would tell Jaz if he was going somewhere, even if it was just for a day or two. She was his partner, she'd be the one picking up the slack at the clinic. But why wouldn't he have at least mentioned it to the rest of us? "Where's he going?"

"He didn't say." Jenny picked right then to get a big handful of Jaz's hair, giggling maniacally when she yelped. "Little fiend," Jaz muttered, laughing as she carefully extricated the little fingers. "You're worse than your father. Anyway, I don't know where Carlisle's headed to. He just said he needed a change of pace and he was signing the clinic over to me if I was interested."

"How long is he going to be gone?"

"He didn't say. Ouch!" I winced when I saw Jenny's fingers go white around the knuckles. "He's sending Quil and I on a cruise the two weeks before Christmas. I figure you don't practically give away a business you've spent years trying to build and give someone a gift like that when you're just going on vacation, but he didn't want to talk about it and I didn't push. I figured staying in Forks was just getting to be too much for him. Too many memories and all that."

My face felt frozen, my fingers moving on automatic to untangle Jaz's hair and scoop up Jenny. I couldn't even laugh at the frizzy mess my daughter's eager, exploring fingers had left behind. I could understand Carlisle needing to get away from the home he'd built with a wife who was never going to live in it again. Of course I could. Anybody would. So why hadn't he said anything?

Maybe he was just waiting for the right time. I wanted to ask Jaz when Carlisle had told her he was leaving, but I was deeply afraid I really didn't want to hear the answer. Didn't want to hear he'd been planning this for months and was either going to drop it on us and disappear a minute later or slip out of town in the middle of the night the way…

The way Edward and Jake had all those years ago. Disappearing and leaving the people you loved frantic with worry seemed to be the surefire cure for a broken heart for the men in my life.

Jaz was right. This had to tie back to Esme. Carlisle loved Forks. He loved the people. He loved the patients. He loved the hospital and the steady routine and the familiar faces. He loved the clinic he and Jaz had worked so hard to build.

He loved me. And Billy and Jenny, to whom he was as much of a grandfather as Charlie was. With the exception of Edward, his family was here. And he'd always respected the fact that Edward wasn't comfortable in Forks and La Push after…well, just after.

Had he decided that Edward had the right idea after all? I mean, Jake took off across the country when he thought I was going to marry Edward. Edward _left_ the country when he knew I was going to marry Jake. Now Carlisle was leaving Forks because Esme was gone.

I could understand the need for some space, maybe a vacation for a month or two to sort things out, but just disappearing seemed so self-defeating. Why take yourself away from your support system, the people you love, who love you, at the worst time in your life?

Then again, Jake and Edward had both managed to pick up the pieces and make pretty decent lives for themselves once they'd finally gotten away from everyone else's expectations of what they should do, what they should feel. When they should be able to let it go. Maybe I was being too hard on him.

"Hey, Bella, you okay?"

I hadn't heard the guys come in. Jake was just suddenly there, standing over me, eyes dark with concern. Without thinking twice I wrapped the arm that wasn't holding our daughter around his well muscled abs and held on for dear life. I could feel him looking at Jaz, probably trying to figure out what was going on, but he obligingly wrapped his arms around my waist and squeezed me tight.

"Carlisle's leaving," I muttered into his shirt.

His muscles stiffened immediately. "What do you mean, Carlisle's leaving?" he asked carefully.

"Jaz said he's taking off. I guess he needs some time away from Forks. I mean, I guess it'll be good for him to get away from all the memories of Esme, but…has he told Rosalie or Alice or anyone else yet?"

I lifted my head up just far enough to look at Jaz, who shrugged.

"I would assume so. I mean, I'm going to be babysitting the clinic, but they're going to be the ones with the house."

Jaz slipped around us, ruffling Jenny's hair, to stretch up on tiptoe and kiss Quil on the chin. A very firm, set, unhappy chin. Uh oh.

"Hey," Jaz said softly, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Don't let Nathaniel get to you, okay? He means well, he's just…"

"Pushy?" Quil smiled wryly. "Yeah, I got that. He doesn't bother me." He looked over at Jake. "We ran into your friend Eli outside."

"Eli's here? That's fabulous." Jaz bounced happily. From the grim lines of Quil's face I was guessing that "fabulous" wasn't exactly the first word that came to mind. "That means you guys can get this horrible business over with so we can spend the rest of the weekend celebrating."

"Oh, we'll be celebrating something," Quil growled. "Celebrating him trying to kick Jake's ass."

Well, this day was just full of surprises. Jake's jaw was clenched so tight there were white circles at the corners of his lips, and he wouldn't meet my eyes. A slow, sinking feeling started in the pit of my stomach.

"Jake? What's he talking about?"

For a minute I thought he wasn't going to answer. Then he finally looked down and met my eyes, letting out a tense breath that ruffled Jenny's hair and made her giggle. A small smile quirked the corner of his lips as he affectionately scrubbed her head with one of his giant hands, and a little piece of my heart melted. It didn't matter what else was going on, watching Jake with our kids always made me smile.

He was hardly a softie. Years of going wolf and running a pack, not to mention running a business, had definitely made a man out of the boy I'd fallen in love with. His hand was easily twice the size of Jenny's head. Hell, the wolves were huge. He could probably eat her in one gulp. She should have been terrified. Instead she just giggled, safe and content in knowing the man in front of me would lay down his life for either one of us. Had, on more than one occasion.

It terrified me to realize that I would have missed out on all of this if I'd married Edward and gone vamp. I'd been so naïve back then.

"Eli's got some issues with how I'm running the pack," he said finally.

"Because of the Cullens."

I didn't have to ask. Even a blind man living under a rock could see there was no love lost between Eli and the Olympic coven. Considering Eli was also the alpha-est alpha on the block at the Mojave reservation, that also meant that they were going to be persona non grata around here indefinitely. And Jake was going to be their number one target for not stepping up to do what Eli had suggested they should have done in the first place.

Say to hell with the treaty and wipe the Cullens off the face of the earth.

This was going to be a mess. But as we all headed up to our own rooms I was haunted by one simple question. If they hated the Cullens so much, why the hell would they invite them all down here in the first place?

I got my answer sooner rather than later. Jenny's afternoon nap was out of the question after the amount of sleeping she'd done on the ride over, so Jake took her out to play with some of the other kids from the reservation. I decided since I actually had some free time on my hands I'd go track down Jaz and see if Max was here yet.

Stepping up to the doors of the hotel kitchen (a long shot, since Jaz hated to cook, but I was going to feel like an idiot if she'd stopped in to say hello to someone and I missed her) I stretched up on tiptoe for a better view through the window. That way, if Jaz wasn't there I wouldn't be interrupting anyone's work.

Kitchen envy overwhelmed me. Whoever had designed this room knew what they were doing. Stainless steel countertops filled the room. A deep refrigerator and huge range stove dominated the room, which was saved from austerity by cheerful terracotta tiles and brightly painted walls. In the middle of the room stood a tiny, dark haired woman about my age dressed in comfortable blue jeans and a brightly colored sweater, swaddled from shoulder to toe in a huge white cooking apron.

One hand was propped on her hip, the other was enthusiastically beating Eli over the head with a wooden spoon.

"I don't care how old you are, Eli Jamison Whitney, you will not be rude to a guest in my kitchen. Do you understand?"

"But-ouch!"

He yelped as the spoon smacked off the fingertips he'd stretched out to her. Holding my breath, I slipped quietly into the kitchen. My shoes squeaked slightly on the polished wooden floor and I froze, terrified the angry wolf was going to shift those furious black eyes in my direction. I didn't know what was going on here, but this poor woman couldn't have possibly known what she was doing.

"They're not guests, maman. They're parasites."

"Bah!" The woman smacked him again. "When this is your kitchen, then you decide who is what. This is my kitchen, and as long as it is my kitchen I get to decide who is a guest and who is a parasite. And I say they are guests. So you march yourself out of here right now and apologize to that lovely young woman with all of that yellow hair. And get her phone number while you're at it." She tsked, turning back to the soup on the stove. "You need a woman, Eli. Someone to soften you up around the edges. Isabella, do you have any single friends for my Eli so he can spend less time worrying about sweet, well mannered young women who offer to cook in my kitchen and more time worrying about giving me some grandchildren?"

"Ah…" She shot me a knowing look over the top of the soup pot and I couldn't help the smile tugging at the corner of my lips. Oh. Well. Apparently even the big bad wolf had a mother who considered it her god given duty to tell him what to do. Considering how old Eli was, she had to be a shapeshifter. Which would explain how she knew I was standing there.

It also probably meant that Eli had known I was there too. Darn it. I was going to have to work on that.

"No ma'am. But I'll keep my eyes open."

"Bah. You see, Eli? Isabella, she's a good girl. You listen to her and stop being so silly about our new guests." She pulled the spoon out of the pot and shook it at him, flicking broth across his cheeks. "Now, get out of my kitchen so this lovely young woman and I can talk without a man around to muck up the works."

Eli sighed, leaning down to place a quick kiss on the top of her head. "Oui maman."

Nodding to me, he murmured, "Isabella" before ducking out of the kitchen. There was no way in hell he was going to voluntarily apologize to one of the Cullens, but only an idiot argues with his mother. I could sympathize. Renee had left me wanting to put my head through a plate glass window way more than once.

"Eli, he's a good boy, but so stubborn." Eli's mother tsked, lifting the soup spoon to her lips. "Too much like his father, that one. So set in his ways that he can't see what's right in front of his face. Running my guests out of my kitchen and leaving me without a single hand to chop vegetables."

"I can chop." The words were out of my mouth before I realized I was going to say them. Would she be offended that I was inviting myself into her kitchen? No, she said Rosalie had been here (at least, I was assuming it was Rosalie). And if she was cooking in a hotel kitchen an extra set of hands would probably be welcome.

Sure enough, she just nodded toward the stacks of aprons hanging on the wall.

"You can wash your hands in the sink. The vegetables and knives are already laid out on the counter." She looked over at me and smiled. "Thank you for your help, Isabella. I'd say I wasn't as young as I once was, but I think we both know that's not true."

She demanded smiles, so I smiled. If you had asked me yesterday if I believed for a minute that such a small woman would be able to boss Eli around I'd have said you were crazy, but here we were.

I would never have believed she was old enough to have a grown son. The curse of being a shapeshifter, I guess. She didn't look much older than I was. Tan skin was still smooth, marred only by fine crinkles at the corners of her mouth. Her dark eyes were bright and clear and sparkling with mischief.

"So." I wasn't sure what to say. She seemed sweet, but there was enough bad blood between Eli and the people I held dear to encourage me to choose my words carefully.

I made a mental note never to leave her alone with Max.

"This is your kitchen?"

"This is my hotel," she said simply. "My husband John, god rest his soul, built this when we left Louisiana and traveled west. It's been many things over the years. You should have been here for Prohibition. You meet the most interesting people when they're sneaking illegal liquor in and out of your basement!"

"I bet." [CP19] Spinning the knife, I couldn't help wistfully thinking how wonderful it would have been to be alive back then. The fondness in her voice eliminated any chance that all of her activities had been on the up-and-up, which meant that I'd missed a helluva good time by being born a few decades too late.

It also occurred to me that I really couldn't walk around calling the woman in front of me Eli's mother for the rest of my natural born life. Which, since it was going to be significantly shorter than hers, was a situation I really needed to rectify.

"That's so incredibly cool that you've been running this place that long, Mrs…?"

She threw back her head and roared with laughter, the sound echoing in the spacious room. "Mrs. I haven't been called that in years. Oh my. Mary will do, child. Just Mary."

"Mary, then. Where's Eli's father?"

Her smile grew wistful, brown eyes turning inward, and for a minute the smells of the vegetables I was chopping and whatever she had bubbling in that pot (it smelled vaguely beefy-I was guessing some kind of stew or another) were the only things floating on the air. That squirmy feeling like I probably should have kept my mouth shut while I was ahead wiggled its way in. The fact that no one called her Mrs, and the intense internal dialogue she was having with herself right then, meant he was probably dead. I'd just gone digging up bad memories the way I always did.

I'd always sucked at just letting people be happy.

Before I could apologize and tell her she really didn't have to take a walk down a memory lane she obviously didn't want to go down, however, she shook off the cobwebs and smiled over at me.

"Eli's father was killed while stationed in Italy during the second world war. Stupid man never did figure out he wasn't indestructible."

"Oh god, I'm so sorry. He was killed in action?"

'Way to go Bella. Cram that foot in just a little bit deeper. I think there's still some space back by your tonsils.'

"Oh no. No, John was a shifter. An old one. There wasn't a bullet flying around back then that would have stopped him for long." She snorted fondly. "What he could never quite manage was keeping his nose out of other people's business. Always looking out for the underdog, my John. He stumbled on a group of vampires herding their supper while out on patrol. There were dozens of them, ordinary people living ordinary lives who were never going to get to be ordinary again.

"Being who and what he was, of course the first thing he did was pick a fight. Phased right in the middle of the town square. He took out a bunch of them, but there were just too many." Sorrow filled her voice and her eyes shifted, flicking to look out the window behind me. "They dragged him underground, where he was sentenced to death without any kind of trial by the bloodthirsty vamps that ruled that country with an iron fist."

"The Volturi."

"Si, the Volturi." She sighed, then smiled. "Eli still hasn't forgiven me for not letting him go to Italy with him. He wanted to enlist, but he was still young. Still learning how to control the wolf. The risk far outweighed the gain."

"They would have killed them both."

I might not have known Eli well, but I was absolutely certain he'd have made sure there was hell to pay if he'd stumbled on innocents being led to the slaughter. His father wouldn't have been the only one going into that fight. He wouldn't have died alone. It was no wonder his hatred toward vampires ran as deeply as it did-and why he couldn't understand how Jacob, who had also lost his father to the Volturi, could welcome them into our lives.

"You know that. I know that. That boy, he doesn't listen to anything. He's convinced that wiping out every vampire on the face of the planet is the only way to avenge his father's death."

I had to wonder why the woman in front of me didn't feel the same way he did. I hated them for _trying_ to kill Jacob, and he was still alive and well. Still warm in my arms rather than dead and vanished somewhere on Italian soil. If I'd lost Jacob the way Mary had lost John…

"You're wondering why I'm telling that son of mine to be nice to our guests when you would be telling him to rip their heads off, yes?" Jerking my head up in surprise, I found myself staring into Mary's knowing eyes. "Things then weren't as they are now. My John would have been just another soldier reported KIA, and I would have spent the rest of my very long life wondering what had really happened.

"About a week after I got the news he'd disappeared, however, I received this." Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a pair of dog tags and a folded piece of yellow paper. "I figured you'd wander down here sooner or later," she said when I looked at her in surprise. "Either you or that handsome husband of yours. You're not as unpredictable as you'd like to think. You deserved to understand why Eli's digging in his heels so badly about this-and why I invited you in the first place."

Opening the paper, my eyes widened. I'd have had to be dead a year not to recognize Carlisle's distinctive handwriting, or to read his words without feeling my eyes well up with tears. He told the new widow that he'd been a visitor in the Volturi court when the wolf had come in. He'd recognized what he was immediately, had tried to save him, but he'd been too late. He had, however, been there when John died, and had promised to relay his last words to his wife so she would know what happened and not spend the rest of her life wondering if he was ever going to come back home.

The letter was pure Carlisle, thick with grief and regret over not being able to save the man from a fate he hadn't deserved. Reading it, I couldn't help but wonder what Carlisle had been doing in Volterra at the time. Had he maintained a relationship with Aro, even after he left the Volturi court? Where was Esme? What had driven him to stand up to the Volturi to try and help the wolves at all?

"It was you, not Nathaniel or Eli, who invited them here." "Yes." Her eyes shone as a watery smile slipped across her face. "I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw them at Leah's wedding. I knew he had to be the young man who wrote to me all those years ago. But there was so much to do with the wedding that I didn't get a chance to talk to him then, and before I knew it they were gone. So when I found out they were going to be here to sign the treaty I wanted to give something back for the peace of mind he gave me all those years ago-and for the flowers he and his lovely wife sent for John's funeral. I still have the ribbon and card pressed into the Bible downstairs."

Was there any life Carlisle hadn't touched? I'd told him years ago that he couldn't be damned; now, looking at the tears and the gratitude on the face of the woman in front of me for the man who'd gone out of his way not only to try and help her husband, but also to make sure his widow knew what had happened to him, I was sure of it.

What on earth were we going to do without him?


	15. Carlisle: Don't Do Anything Stupid

**November**

**The Hotel **

**Carlisle**

The late afternoon sun shone hot through the windows of the stifling hotel room. The room itself was lovely, the drapes light and airy, the quilts on the beds hand sewn in the fine southwestern style I'd always enjoyed, but it was much too small to offer any release for the restlessness crawling through my bones.

It was Wednesday; tonight, we'd meet with Eli and his pack and, if there was a god anywhere in heaven that looked down upon the soulless, seal this agreement so we could take the first steps toward stopping the Volturi. Thursday would be the holiday meal, Friday the inevitable hours upon hours of small talk. Saturday I would make my excuses and leave.

Rosalie and Alice had plans to travel with Leah at the beginning of next week, so for a time I would have the house to myself-a blessed break that I sorely needed. I was ashamed to say I hadn't been able to tune in to their cheerful chatter long enough to truly listen to their plans for this mini-vacation. I knew there was supposed to be shopping, and some other feminine foolishness of some kind or another. Jasper and Emmett had been complaining about it for weeks, but they both planned to stay.

The things we did for love.

A tentative peace had reigned in the house the last few weeks, undoubtedly the result of the threats now hanging low over our heads. Even Emmett had begun to let go of the rage that had driven him since Esme's death. We'd hunted together before coming here, and he'd refrained from going for my jugular. For the moment, it was enough.

Of course, that peace would be short lived if he even suspected the thoughts that were beginning to crowd my mind. When I had asked Jacob that hell born favor over the summer I had been so sure of my course. Positive that the people already in my life couldn't come close to filling the gaping hole in my heart that Esme had left behind. Confident that there was nothing in this existence worth living for now that she was gone.

I was beginning to suspect that I had been wrong. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, I dragged my hands through my hair in frustration and looked at the clock. Hours yet until our meeting, scheduled after sundown to give everyone time to arrive. Too much time to be alone in my room with my own troubled thoughts.

The rumble of an engine pulled my attention to the window. From one side of the unfamiliar sedan stepped a tall man in a black leather duster, hat and sunglasses all but obscuring my view of his face. He wasn't the one that caught my eye, however. It was the woman, wand slim, black hair gleaming purple in the sunlight. Her dark pants and boots stood in sharp, gloomy contrast to the brilliant sand, but the loving sun caught the strands of glitter shot through her purple sweater so it sparkled and swayed with each movement she made.

She was obviously bickering with her companion, and when she tipped her head back to the sky to let loose a howl of frustration her pale skin, dancing eyes and crimson lips took my breath away.

A whoop of delight echoed up from the lobby under my feet, and as I watched David ran out, scooped her up and spun her until her scowl disappeared and they were both laughing like loons. My lips pulled back into an involuntary snarl, a primal growl rumbling in my thoat while jealousy snapped through my gut like an iron poker at the sight of Max in another man's arms. Damn it all to hell, this wasn't supposed to be happening.

She was innocent, free of the dark shadows that ran through my mind, free from the ravening hunger of the beast that from time to time remembered that it, not I, sat at the top of the food chain. I had no right to even think the things I had thought these past few weeks. No right to darken her doorstep with my shadow, feeling the way I did. No right to look upon her as anything other than friend, daughter, colleague.

Even less to touch her the way I suddenly, desperately wanted to.

When had this madness begun? Pressing my forehead to the window, breathing in the chill, I laughed as I struggled to find the start of this insanity. The moment I took the first steps toward this horrible betrayal of the woman I loved that was currently bubbling in my veins. Had it been when death came knocking? Or had it begun before, an ember of fascination born in those early days when she'd been so different from anyone I'd ever known? A harmless interest transformed by loneliness into the unthinkable.

I couldn't put my finger on exactly when I stopped thinking of Max as a sweet, charming pain in the arse and started thinking of her as a woman. She'd just always been there, on the periphery of my life. I could go months without seeing her, but she was still there. Then suddenly she wasn't, and the loss of her had been unbearable.

It was as much my fault as hers. I'd been blindsided by the harsh reality that Max, indestructible, irreverent, irredeemable Max, could have been lost in an instant. I'd rationalized that fear, that terror, those first days. She was family, mine to protect, mine to care for, just as Bella and Jazmine were. I'd felt guilty for losing my temper to that fear, so by ignoring her calls until I was ready to be rational I was actually doing both of us a favor.

Especially when Roberto obligingly called me with a report from her newly appointed bodyguard that she was cursing my name.

Then days had turned into weeks, and I slowly began to realize that I was lying to myself. Ignoring her phone calls had nothing to do with rationality and everything to do with a whole different kind of terror. The dratted little imp had crawled under my skin, and I had no idea what on earth I was supposed to do about it.

If you'd have told me months before that I would be standing here, aching, raging against invisible bonds of temper and shame and pride, I'd have recommended a consult with an excellent psychiatrist. Possibly followed by months of therapy and extensive medication.

Taking one fist I lightly pounded out an absent beat on the window frame. This feeling of spinning out of control was as unfamiliar to me as the taste of my mother's Yorkshire pudding after all these years of keeping myself and my beast tightly in check. After Esme's death the bottom had been ripped out from underneath the life I'd worked so hard to build. She fit, somehow. An angel to the demon that I had fought so long to keep leashed inside of me. Even when she'd struggled with her hunger she'd never been anything but an angel to me.

My feelings for her had been a soft, gentle thing, a reverence for the light she brought into a life that had been dark for too long. It was difficult, very difficult, to even think the word angel in the same sentence as Max. I knew her too well for that. But was this new fascination, this painful infatuation, just an attempt to fill the empty spots death had left in its wake?

That thought yanked even harder on my guilty conscience. Even knowing that there was no future there for me didn't stop the darkest corners of my mind from dreaming of soft skin sliding under my fingertips. Of warm arms wrapped around me in the night. Of soft words slipping between lips in small, dark spaces.

I was the worst type of bastard for even thinking these things while mourning my wife. The best thing, the only thing, would be to go on as I had been. To pretend that these feelings didn't exist, for down that path lay madness. Even were I not what I was, and she who she was, she wasn't free. She'd certainly run screaming from the possibility that I wanted to be anything to her other than what I already was. And she deserved so much more than to be second best for a man who was in love with a ghost.

No, this was just a moment. A moment driven by a natural attraction to the force that had tapped frozen emotions for the first time since Esme's death. It was foolishness, to mistake gratitude for attraction.

I clutched at the thought like a drowning man would clutch onto a life preserver in the middle of the ocean, laughing maniacally in relief. Of course. It happened all the time. Why hadn't I seen it before? It was natural, logical even, that I would feel an attachment to a friend whose incapability to do anything but ride life's highs brought feeling and joy back into my own life.

Given time, this infatuation would die a natural death. I just had to wait, and not do anything stupid in the meantime.

"Carlisle?"

Jasper stood in the doorway to my room, face drawn in concern. I could only be grateful it wasn't Edward standing there. Even if Jasper sensed my concern, there were some secrets I could still keep.

"I'm fine, Jasper." I forced a polite smile to my face, sure he would sense the turmoil behind it, equally sure he was far too well mannered to say anything about it. "Please, come in."

"Actually I'm just here to play messenger boy. Bella and Jacob arrived earlier, and Max and Nick are here, which means we have everyone we need. Eli suggested we begin so we can get this done with."

I nodded, took a step forward, then stopped. There were footsteps traveling down the hallway, light, hurried, bringing the scent of the wild and the distinct odor of wet dog with them. Leah, looking for Rosalie or Alice, perhaps?

No, not Leah. And not looking for the girls either, if the way the footsteps stopped outside my doorway was any indication. I could smell uncertainty, and fear. From the way Jasper stiffened beside me, I knew he sensed it too.

I didn't think it was an ambush, but it paid to be careful. Lifting a finger to my lips for silence I walked to the door and peered out, finding myself face to face with a pair of wide brown eyes.

"Good evening madame." She shrank back away from me, and I had to physically choke back my impatience. I knew that the Mojave weren't as used to our presence as our own pack, but it was yet another infernal reminder of the monster I had become. The monster I fought so hard to prove we didn't have to be.

I was too tired to keep fighting, but this woman didn't deserve to find herself on the receiving end of several centuries' worth of frustration. She was only following her instincts. I couldn't fault her for that.

"Is there something I can do for you?"

"Yes. At least, I hope so." Her voice was tentative, breathy. She wiped her hands nervously on a spattered white apron before taking a deep breath, throwing back her shoulders and lifting her chin in way that had me biting back a smile. She was scared to death, but she was determined not to show it. "I'm looking for Carlisle Cullen."

"You've found him." Pushing my luck, I reached down and lifted her hand to my lips. The courtly, old-style gesture had the desired effect. Her shoulders relaxed, just a little, and a smile quirked the corner of her mouth. "What can I do for you?"

"You're a smooth one, aren't you?" The quirk of the lips turned into a full blown smile. "Somehow I knew you would be."

"Jazmine often accuses him of being a silver tongued bastard." Jasper slipped up from behind, flanking me in a protective gesture that told me he was ready to do battle if need be but willing to give me the lead and see how this played out. "I've never been able to disagree with her."

"Jazmine never was one for knowing how to bite her tongue. You must be young Jasper." The woman pulled her hand gently away and held it out to Jasper. "I'm Mary. Mary Whitney. I'm Eli's mother."

The name sent me flying, spinning back through my past while Jasper reached out to shake her hand. I knew that name. Knew it intimately. It had been breathed into the air while I crouched next to a body that was broken and bleeding, cursing myself for not acting quickly enough and the Volturi for their inability to leave the violence of their way of life behind. I'd heard the rattle of his dying breath in my head for years, a damning testament to my inability to save him from a fate he hadn't deserved.

I'd confessed everything in the letter I'd written her after his death. How he had died, and why, and the roll I had played. I should have remembered that letter had gone to this place, but it had been so many years ago. Now his widow stood in front of me, undoubtedly looking for her pound of flesh-if her son didn't take it for her. Suddenly Eli's behavior made perfect sense. Perhaps my future wasn't as vague as I thought.

"Wait. You named your son Eli Whitney?" Jasper's formerly serious voice was suddenly full of mirth. "As in, the man that invented the cotton gin?"

"My John knew that particular Eli very well. Well enough that it was his name he took when society started to demand it, and to name his first son after him. I never had the pleasure of meeting him myself, but John always said he was a good man."

Mary's voice lifted when she spoke of her husband, another nail in the coffin of my guilt, so it took me by surprise when she stepped forward and threw her arms around my neck, planting hot kisses on both of my cheeks.

"I've been waiting for years for the chance to do that, and to thank you. We all knew there was no way he'd gone down under a sniper's bullet, like the army tried to get us to believe, but none of us knew what really happened. That you tried to help him, and took the time to send that letter along with his tags, means more to me than you'll ever know." Blushing, she stepped back, then reached up to pat me on the cheek. "I just wanted to make sure you knew that. You're a good man, Carlisle Cullen. A very good man."

With that she turned and walked down the hallway, steps light and soundless against the thick carpeting under her feet. Jasper stepped up, whistling under his breath.

"Well I'll be damned."

I couldn't have agreed more.


	16. Max: Are These People for Real?

**November**

**Still at the Hotel (There's No Food. Yet. But There Will Be.) **

**Max**

"I'm not going to do it."

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

Slipping the car into park in front of the hotel, Nick just turned and gave me that implacable grin. I hated that grin. I hated that grin more than I hated the way the neighbor sang Pucchini in the shower at the top of his lungs at 5 o'clock in the morning, and that drove me insane.

As soon as I was sure I wasn't going to get flattened I hopped out, tipped my head back and screamed.

"Arrrgh! You're such a jerk, you know that?"

Carlisle was a dead man when I got my hands on him. The dark coated, dark hatted stooge that climbed out of the car was driving me insane. He had an opinion on _everything_, and it wasn't enough just to tell me about it. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh no. That would be far too easy.

No, he just kept pushing in that quiet way of his so you did what he wanted you to do. Didn't matter if you wanted to do it or not, as long as doing it would make him _shut up._

The bit was between his teeth this time. The hospital (and I was going to kill PR for this) had decided that instead of our usual fundraising dinner, they were going to host a ball. A themed masquerade ball. On New Year's Eve.

Whose stupid idea was that?

To make it even better, I didn't even have the option to ditch. As the newly promoted Assistant Department Head of Pediatric Research (a fancy way to say they were giving me twice as much paperwork) I was obligated to put in an appearance.

The theme? Alice in Wonderland. Ugh.

My boss was already well aware it wasn't going to happen. I'd already informed him that I'd be happy to show up, but they were _not_ going to dress me up like some Disney schmuck. Don't get me wrong. I loved Disney toons. But I was NOT going to dress like one.

Leave it to Nick to decide he actually liked the idea. And to draft a replacement so he could go shopping. _Shopping_. What kind of self respecting bodyguarding voluntarily spent both time and a healthy chunk of his own money to buy clothes for their "body"?

Could vampires contract a prion disease from too much human blood? It would be worth looking into. The man had obviously lost his mind.

The dress, shoes and various accessories I'd found laying out on my bed were tucked away in the back of my closet. I figured I'd stick with passive-aggressive protest, then return them when this was over and give Nick his money back. No, passive-aggressive behavior wasn't my usual style. Shouting, screaming and breaking things was. But could I convince tall, buff and scary that there wasn't a donor rich enough to get me to put the stupid thing on?

No. And I was running out of things to throw.

"Max!"

Before I could blink the scenery was flying by in a dizzying blur. David. Thank god. The voice of reason. And any day I could think that and actually mean it had already gone on far too long.

"Hey handsome." Throwing my arms around his neck, I placed a smacking kiss on his cheek (and deliberately ignored the affectionate pat on the butt he gave me in return). "Would you please inform this blundering buffoon that I do _not_ do costumes?"

David, arms still wrapped tightly around my waist, obligingly turned to Nick. I had to do a quick two-step shuffle to keep up without falling onto the cold, muddy ground.

"She doesn't do costumes. Wait, what?" He whipped his head back around. "Since when?"

"Since this schmuck over here decided to dress me up as the Queen of Hearts for the hospital's annual fundraiser."

My former best friend looked at me, then cracked up.

"Oh wow. Please tell me you're getting pictures," he said to Nick. "I can retire with what I'll get for those on eBay."

"I shall be sure to bring my camera along."

Normally that would have inspired me to inflict no small amount of pain on David (I was pretty sure I could take him, even with one arm out of the picture) but Nick's tone of voice caught my attention. He sounded…distracted. Nick didn't get distracted. He didn't know the meaning of the word distracted. My life would be a hell of a lot easier if he did.

"Hot date?" I asked pointedly. "Please, don't let me keep you if you have other plans."

Please, god, let him say yes. I really didn't want to have to explain Nick to Eli. As a guest, I was going to be morally obligated to stop Eli from killing him after he found out who he was and what he was doing there. That was an unfair conflict of interest when I was doing my best to get rid of him.

Right on cue. Herr Wolf himself came stalking out of the hotel, lanky muscles rippling in time with the growls vibrating up from his throat. Yikes. Jaz swore up and down Eli was a teddy bear once you got to know him. The girl had obviously been dropped on her head one too many times. This man didn't have a soft, cuddly bone in his whole body.

Okay, quick side note. I may not be exactly normal, per se. But even after all these years I still hadn't figured out how I wound surrounded by blood sucking fiends, vampicidal maniacs, and the humans who loved them. Jerry Springer didn't know what he was missing.

Eli lifted his chin in a quick jerk of acknowledgement. Flat, hard eyes pinned us into place, and I had the distinct impression that if I tried to run right now he'd rip my throat out before either one of us knew what happened. Heart pounding, I nervously wiped sweaty palms on the sides of my coat. David's arms tightened reassuringly as we watched the scene play out.

"Nicholas."

"Eli." Nick nodded, eyes tipped toward the ground, but he didn't stretch out his hand. The humans had left the building. This was a greeting from one dominant predator to another. A very cordial greeting.

A little _too _cordial. My eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"You two have met?"

Eli nodded, a quick jerk of the head that never forced his eyes away from Nick's face. "Nicholas is to be part of tonight's discussion, representing the interests of certain…interested parties. Your employer called to let me know you were expected," he told Nick. "However, he didn't mention you would be bringing company."

"Nick's on babysitting detail. I didn't realize he was already on the guest list." I made my smile as saccharine sweet as possible. "Nick, darling, you should have said something. I'd have let you come alone so you could spend some quality time with your friends."

"Jacob and Sam are downstairs." Eli completely ignored my pointed quip. Darn it, I wanted to know what was going on. Shouldn't they have been trying to kill each other by now? "Dr. Cullen will be down momentarily. I've assigned several members of my pack to Maxine to enable you to join us."

Maybe if I walked over and…wait, he did what? I saw shadows moving in my peripheral vision and grimaced. While we'd been talking, a group had gathered. Shifters or psychopaths, none of them was dressed for the weather. While I was guessing these were all members of the Mojave pack, I wasn't entirely certain the two were mutually exclusive.

Several were giving me the evil eye. I instinctively shrank closer to David.

"Relax," he murmured into my hair. "Dad's part of the group signing the treaty, so I'm excused. They're just here to make sure we don't find ourselves with any unexpected guests until Nick can get back."

"Yeah, good idea." Right. Okay. Not even Demitri (speaking of psychopaths) would be willing to start anything with these tall, hairy examples of wolf-hood running around. (Most of them _were_ pretty hot.) And anything was better than Nick.

The vampire in question nodded his head and walked toward the hotel without looking back. Eli turned to follow him, but stopped when I grabbed his arm.

"Is there something I can do for you, Maxine?" he asked politely.

"Yeah. You can toss me a thermometer so I can check the temperature in Hell. Why aren't you and Nick…you know?"

"You mean why haven't I ripped off the murdering bastard's head for having the bald-faced audacity to set even one uninvited, bloodthirsty foot on my land?" Eli smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Nicholas and I have met before. His employer…well, let's just say that you don't get to be as old as I am without learning there are some fights that aren't worth fighting. Not if you plan on walking away with your skin."

He reached down, lifted my hand to his lips, then pulled away. "There's a game of pool taking place down in the basement. I understand playing might be difficult with your arm, but I think you'll enjoy the show. And perhaps we might all keep a bit of our paycheck this time. Please, enjoy your evening."

Drat. I laughed as I watched him walk away. Oops. I'd forgotten all about that. I…_may_…have hustled a game or two (or ten) the last time I was here. That particular talent, a lingering remnant of my ill-spent youth, had put spending money in my pocket more than once while I was in college.

Darn wolf had the memory of an elephant. But the kids loved the massive train table I'd bought for the hospital playroom with my ill-gotten gain.

"Shall we?" David's voice was prim as he crooked an elbow and held out his arm. Dropping a mocking curtsy I tucked my good arm through his. If he was going to be ridiculous, so would I. "Oh yes, let's shall."

We strolled across the parking lot, my temporary bodyguards following along like silent wraiths in the afternoon sun.

"How is that lovely mother of yours?"

"Mom's fine." I frowned at him, instantly suspicious. "Why?"

"Just asking. I really enjoyed her phone call the other day."

The deliberate nonchalance in his voice caught my ear. I jerked to a stop as soon as we were far enough inside it didn't look like I was puffing a joint every time I took a breath.

"She called you?"

"But of course, senorita." David stepped back and made a sweeping bow. "She wanted to know if I had plans for Christmas. Something about making sure you had a date for the Donovan family Christmas party, since Jack's planning to be out of town."

Oh no. Groaning, I leaned forward and banged my head on his shoulder.

"Ouch."

I dug my forehead into the soft, squishy nerve under his clavicle one more time for good measure. "You deserved it. Don't tell me you even _thought_ about saying yes to that."

"Of course I thought about it. DC's gorgeous at Christmas. And between us, I think she likes me better than lover boy anyway. But I told her I thought you were working," he added hastily when I growled under my breath. "Shame on you for 'forgetting' to tell your mother you were covering for Jaz and wouldn't be home for the holidays."

He had a point. I was planning to wait until she asked to admit I wasn't heading east for Christmas. Since that wouldn't happen until a day or two before Christmas, she wouldn't have time to plan anything I was going to regret. Like packing her bags and relocating her annual psychoses to the Cullen house.

I didn't think she was going to go scouting for dates a full month in advance. And I really didn't think she was going to do it behind my back with my best friend _and_ the guy I was seeing.

"So, what's keeping that architect of yours away at this _special_ time of year?" David voice was innocent, but there was enough of an undertone there to tell me he disapproved.

"He's got some conference out in Oklahoma to go to, then he's staying with his own parents through New Year's. I figured since I was going to be at the Cullens' working my butt off anyway, there was no point in trying to make plans to spend the holidays together. What?" I asked defensively. He was giving me that _look_.

"You, Maxine Donovan, are the most unromantic chick I've ever met."

My shoulders tensed, but before I could say anything a bourbon smooth voice, filled with amusement, floated down the hall behind him.

"Interesting turn of phrase. I'm quite afraid, David, that if you call her a chick again she's going to hit you. Then I'll end up delaying this meeting once again while I help reinsert your teeth."

Crap. Flinching, I turned and found myself staring straight into Carlisle's whiskey colored eyes. I'd spent the last month dreaming sweet, sweet dreams about the grief I was going to give him when I saw him again, but now that he was actually here I didn't know what to do. As part of the Forks-whatever we were-it seemed like a bad idea to tear a strip off of his hide with Eli's pack standing there. United front and all that.

Besides, it was hard to be mad when he was looking at me that way. With a kind of guarded affection, like a puppy that expected to be kicked but came up to say hello anyway.

Then one of the wolves behind me shifted, snarling softly, and I had to amend my metaphors. Even though his face remained set in an easy smile, there was nothing puppy-like in the dangerous look that snapped into his eyes. Or in the subtle tensing of his muscles underneath his calm exterior.

I'd wondered more than once how he'd managed to survive and defend his territory in light of his notoriously non-violent lifestyle. Now I knew. Silent, lethal and more than capable of carrying through on the promise of violence simmering beneath the surface of those amber eyes, he was obviously the most dangerous thing in the room.

Jeez. Men.

There was only one thing to do, and I did it. Stepping forward, I wrapped my arms around his neck and squeezed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw one of the wolves move sharply, his forward momentum halted by David's cautioning hand.

Tense muscles stiffened even farther underneath my hand. Slipping his hands around my waist Dr. C pulled me close, dropping his head to rest his forehead in my hair, and for the first time in over a month I felt myself relax. Whatever else was going on, I knew no one was going to mess with me while I was here. Carlisle simply wouldn't allow it.

"I'm still mad at you, you know," I muttered, just to make sure he didn't think he was off the hook.

"Yes, I figured you might be."

"As long as we're clear on that." In for a penny… "I'm sorry for being such an ungrateful brat about the whole Forks thing. I know you were just trying to help."

"You're safe. That's all that matters." He placed a light kiss on my forehead, and I knew that was all the acknowledgement my apology was going to get. Darn the man. Why couldn't he just yell at me like a normal person so I could feel like poo and get over it?

"Carlisle? We have to go." Whoops. I'd forgotten Jasper was standing there. Stepping back, I stretched up, placed a quick kiss on Carlisle's cheek, then got a running start and leapt into Jasper's arms.

"Jasper darling, when are you going to leave Alice and run away with me?"

"Let's leave tonight." Always happy to play along with my foolishness Jasper set me down, then dropped down to his knees. "I'll storm the palace walls. We can be in Bermuda by sundown."

"Only if I get to come." Alice appeared out of nowhere behind him, pixie curls sticking out in all directions, a brilliant smile on her face.

"Well of course darling. It wouldn't be the same without you." Alice pulled me in for a hug, then passed me to Rosalie. "Oh god, I've missed you guys."

"You'd miss us less if you bothered to come down to Forks now and then, you know." Rosalie squeezed me tight. "We thought we were going to have to come kidnap you to get you out of that hospital of yours."

"Anytime." Guilt crawled up my spine. I'd been so intent on avoiding Dr. C that I hadn't given a thought to how it would look to anyone else. "I'm sorry. I meant to come down, I really did. I've just been ridiculously busy."

"Uh huh." Alice's eyes drifted down the hallway behind me, where the wolves and David stood waiting. "Busy avoiding Carlisle, you mean?"

Oh boy. I glanced back, then let out a soft huff of relief. Carlisle and Jasper had disappeared without a word to go do whatever you do when you're saving an entire species from extinction by vampires. I just hoped they hadn't been there long enough to hear Alice's careless words.

Avoiding Dr. C was one thing. Having to admit it was something else entirely.

"It's okay. There are days I want to avoid him too. Especially lately. Anyway, he and Jasper are going to be busy for most of the night." Alice tucked her arm through the one not sporting a cast (two more weeks and that sucker was SO going in the garbage, even if I had to cut it off myself) and beamed over at David. "Emmett's downstairs. He says that since you bailed on the meeting, you owe him a game."

"Bailed? I thought you said you were excused?"

He shrugged.

"Tomato, tomahto. I'd rather spend the night with you then arguing pack politics. Dad just happens to be obliging."

"And intimately acquainted with your lack of diplomacy?"

"Hey! I can be diplomatic." David grinned sheepishly. "When I want to be."

Have you ever tried to squish two vampires, two humans and a pile of wolves into an elevator? By the time we got to the basement of the hotel I was intimately acquainted with the inconvenient space issues associated with your average sardine. The minute the doors popped open I shouldered my way through, stepping out and sucking in a deep breath of fresh air.

All that air came back out in a low, appreciative whistle.

"Wow."

"Pretty awesome, isn't it?"

David came up behind me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I barely noticed. Pretty awesome didn't quite cover it. The last time I'd been here they'd just finished the basement. There were hardwood floors, freshly painted walls and a perfectly balanced pool table and not much else.

Now the room was filled with overstuffed furniture and custom-built card tables, each designed to fit your average seven foot wolf and overflowing with humans and shifters of all shapes and sizes. On the far wall the Miami Dolphins took on the Chicago Bears on a glorious ten foot Technicolor flatscreen. There were no mirrors or pictures in the room, but there was a new oak pool table tucked back in the corner near the entrance. Complete with its very own Cullen.

Jaz and Bella were flopped a couch against the far wall, heads bent in conversation. Squeezing David's hand, then shoving him toward an eager Emmett, I headed over to join them.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

Two pairs of eyes looked up in surprise. "Max!"

"In the flesh."

Bella scooted over to give me some space on the end of the sofa, then threw her arms around my neck.

"I'm _so _glad you're here. I've missed you. Did you know Quil proposed to Jaz and she didn't bother to tell anyone about it?"

Subtlety. Not Bella's strong point. The change in subject left my head reeling, but before I could say anything Alice's squeal echoed off the ceiling. "Oh my gosh! Congratulations!" She pulled Jaz off the couch and spun her around, bubbling over with giddy laughter. "Oh, another wedding to plan! I can't wait! We'll have to go pick out flowers and cake. And a dress. Oh, I met the best caterer when I was in Seattle a couple of weeks ago, we can…"

"I said no."

Jaz's voice was barely above a whisper, but it was impossible to miss. A hush fell over the room, and I winced when I realized we weren't the only ones who had been listening. The better part of Jaz's "family" was crammed into this room, obviously tuning in to every word she said. Now they knew everything.

She was going to kill us.

"You did what?"

"Why?"

Questions started firing from all sides. Jaz groaned and buried her head in her hands.

"I'm just going to take out an ad. All right, listen up!," she shouted, standing up on the couch so she was impossible to miss. "Yes, Quil proposed. No, I'm not pregnant. No, I'm not getting married. No, I don't plan on getting married any time soon. End of story."

Hopping down, Jaz shoved her way past Alice and Rosalie and headed out into the hallway. Alice's eyes were huge, limpid pools of regret.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean to…"

"I know." Bella stood up and gave her a hug. "You didn't do anything wrong. It's just a touchy subject right now."

"Should we?" Rosalie jerked her head in the general direction of the hallway.

A soft buzz of conversation followed us out. Jaz had the right idea. Take out an ad. It would be easier than the gossip, questions and well meaning advice that were going to follow her around the rest of the time we were here.

Wonder how much bribery it would take to convince her to let us go back to Forks early? After Thanksgiving dinner, of course. Only an idiot walks out on free food.

I would have missed her if I hadn't literally almost tripped over her. Jaz had curled up in a ball on the floor of the hallway, tucked back against a potted plant so the only thing you could see was the tips of her bright orange sneakers.

Orange?

"This sucks," she grumbled, leaning her head on my shoulder when I sat down next to her. "Where is it written that the minute you fall in love with a guy you have to have the ring and the fence and the 2.5 kids to go with it? Why can't they just accept that we're happy and leave it at that?"

"Because misery loves company?" A quick giggle slipped out from under the waterfall of red hair. "No seriously. It's just because you're getting old sweetie. They figure if they don't marry you off now, they're never going to. I mean, in another six months or so you're going to be practically geriatric."

"You ass."

She meant that in the most affectionate possible way.

Alice, Rosalie and Bella had plopped down on the floor with us, making a protective wall between Jaz and the concerned faces of my bodyguards that stood back by the door of the game room. They may not have cared about me one way or the other. They may not have trusted Alice or Rosalie as far as they could throw them. But they obviously loved Jaz.

I'm sure it didn't hurt that no matter how quiet we tried to be, they were going to hear every word we said. Nothing like a perfectly legitimate excuse to be first on the scene for the really good gossip.

I flinched when Alice neatly tucked her feet underneath her. If I knew clothes (it pained me to admit that I did) her cleverly faded designer jeans had cost her a whole lot more than my Calvin Klein knockoffs, picked up for a fiver at the consignment shop. Enough so that I felt like I should apologize to them for letting them get dirty.

"It's so stupid," said Jaz mournfully. "I mean, this morning it was no big deal. Then Nathaniel started harassing Quil, and now everyone knows thanks to Alice's big mouth."

"It is a big mouth, isn't it?" Alice's voice was so apologetic that we all had to laugh.

"Yeah, just a little," said Jaz with a wobbly smile. Nothing like the reminder that your friends are insane to brighten up your day. "But we love you anyway."

"We love you too sweetie." Alice reached over and lightly brushed a tear off of her cheek. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. You can't help yourself."

"She can. She just doesn't want to."

Alice pouted at Rosalie's harsh words. Ah, sisterly love. Before she could open said mouth and deliver the set-down I knew was coming, the elevator doors swished open and the bane of my existence came walking out. Oh joy. This night just kept getting…Hey, what?

Eyes wide, lips trembling, Rosalie put her hands on her knees and pushed slowly to her feet.

"Nick?"

Oh great, someone else who already knew the pain in the butt.

Nick grinned, the first real smile I'd ever seen him smile (when he wasn't laughing at me, that is). It transformed his whole face, wiping away the intimidating glare that I rarely saw him without and replacing it with a mischievous, little boy quality that was completely out of place on the man I'd come to know.

"Hiya Rosie."

Rosie?

"Oh my god." Rose flew across the floor, throwing herself into his arms, the gasping sounds of what would have been sobs if she'd been anything else coming out of her mouth.

"I've missed you," he murmured, rocking her back and forth and burying his face in her hair.

Okay, _obviously_ Rosalie and Nick knew each other. Well. Really well.

How well?

"Excuse me."

Emmett stood in the open door we'd just left, eyebrows raised, arms and legs braced for a fight. He was obviously less than amused at finding his wife wrapped up in another man's arms. I couldn't say I blamed him. I was less than pleased to find Rosalie wrapped up in his arms too. Just for a whole different set of reasons.

Getting rid of him just got a whole lot harder.

"Am I missing something here?"

"Emmett." Rosalie stepped back, grabbing Nick's hands and squeezing until her knuckles turned white. "I'd like you to meet Nicholas. My baby brother."


	17. Max: A Question of Marriage

**December**

**Two Weeks Later…**

_**Really, Really Fast A/N: **__Two weeks have passed since Rosalie dropped the bomb on Nick. Much Thanksgiving food was consumed. The agreement was signed. Nobody died. Everything else will be explained in time. _

_I know, I know. Why didn't I write out Thanksgiving? Because quite frankly, with this crew a four day vacation can turn into an entire novella all on its own! And there are going to be a LOT of chapters digging into what happens when Max spends six weeks at the Cullens' that are full of plot bombs (MUCH more brutal than plot bunnies) and dramatic, unexpected turns of events that I'm dying to get into, starting with this one._

_BTW (really am shutting up after this) a HUGE thank-you to Tim C. Girl for helping me iron out the sticky spots in this. If it wasn't for her pointing out that I was sending you through time and space without a stargate, y'all might have been stuck doing the Time Warp. Sweetie, you rock. _

_Now, on with the show…_

**Max**

"Crud. Crud crud crud crud crud. Nick, have you seen my bells?"

"You really don't want me to answer that." He laughed when I smacked him in the back of the head. "What?"

"I said bells, not balls. Jerk."

I tried not to, I really did, but I couldn't help it. I laughed. Rosalie, who was curled up next to Nick on the couch, tipped her head back and let out a very indelicate groan.

"Please don't encourage him."

"I wasn't aware he needed encouragement."

Nick caught the couch pillow and smacked me in the face with it. Hard. Without looking away from the TV. Who, in their infinite wisdom, decided to give stupid jerks supernatural vampire reflexes?

Oh. Right. The moron that offered to turn him.

I hadn't been privy to most of what had happened between Nick and Rosalie, and it was driving me insane. All I knew was he was her little brother back when she was human and he'd done some major hush-hush work for the military before being recruited to be some kind of super Vampman for a pretty major organization operating outside of Volturi control.

That didn't surprise me in the least. I'd known from the minute I met the man he wasn't the kind of guy I wanted to run into in a dark alley in the middle of the night. And that was before I knew he'd just as soon eat me as look at me. What _did_ surprise me, however, was his confession that he'd volunteered to be changed, even knowing what was in store. What he'd be giving up.

Not like I didn't already know he was a freak. It was just nice to have my suspicions confirmed.

"If I don't find those stupid bells I am so screwed." A quick glance at the clock had me swallowing a lump of panic. I was supposed to be at the hospital in twenty minutes, which meant I had about two minutes to find those tinny pieces of crap and…

"This what you're looking for?"

The voice sent warm shivers down to the pit of my stomach. Turning around, I grinned at the sight of a tall, sexy, well-padded Santa Claus standing in my doorway. A pair of bells spun in the air, anchored by thin strips of elastic wrapped around his fingertips.

"You're a saint, Santa. An absolute saint."

"But of course. It is a visit from Saint Nicholas, after all! Ho, ho, ho!"

Ignoring the unanimous groaning from the room at large Santa walked over, hooked a finger in the collar of my green tunic (all the rage at the North Pole-everywhere else was debatable) and pulled me in for a kiss. "And have you been a good little elf this year?"

"Nah. I figured I'd be naughty and save Santa a trip." Plucking the bells off his fingers, I planted one more quick kiss on his lips before I sat down to thread them through my shoes. "Unless, of course, Santa has some interest in elves with no interest whatsoever in staying off the naughty list."

"Well now, I have it on excellent authority that Santa makes special trips for bad little elves." Santa's eyes twinkled merrily, growing brighter at the gagging noise from the couch.

"Would you two just get it on and get it over with? You're grossing me out."

"I'll second that," added Rosalie, standing up and slipping her feet into her shoes. "You guys need to get a room."

"Gladly. But you have to get out of it first."

Jack, looking fabulous in the Santa suit he'd rented for today's event, snorted, slipping his arms around my waist and placing a light kiss on the back of my neck.

"You know, there's a room at my place. With a bed. A big one. We could…"

"No, we couldn't." Nick walked over and plopped the green felt hat on my head. "You know why we couldn't? Because you two are supposed to be at the hospital in about fifteen minutes, and it'll take you twice that long just to get back to Jack's Rack."

"You're a pig," I said primly. Then, apologetically, "But he's got a point. Rain check? Say, 30 years from now, when he finally goes away?"

He growled, pulling me close and taking a quick nip at my neck. I heard Nick suck in a breath and gently pushed myself back, smiling to take the sting out of the gesture. Nick and I had a solid don't ask, don't tell agreement when it came to his dietary requirements, but he'd been sticking pretty close to home lately. He obviously had excellent control, since I was still here, but with no idea how long it had been since he ate I didn't think flaunting our very yummy, very human necks around him was a very good idea.

This party probably wasn't a good idea either, but there was no way in hell I was going to miss it. I was trusting Rosalie to make sure he didn't suddenly develop a snack attack. Nick was either going to have to suck it up or take five to go loot the blood bank.

"So, Santa, where'd you park the sleigh?"

There's nothing like a room full of kids stuck in the hospital for Christmas to give you some perspective on how petty your pathetic problems actually are. For some, this was their last Christmas. You could see the knowledge on the faces of the haggard parents who hugged them close, weeping as they unwrapped what might well be the last Christmas present they'd ever have. Who prayed that those same children would still be there Christmas Eve to open the pile of presents they'd stashed away to celebrate Santa's midnight ride.

Too many of them wouldn't. For them, opening their eyes to the wonder of Christmas morning was as unattainable a dream as climbing Mt. Everest in a pair of stilettos. I tried to make it a point to walk by and squeeze each and every one, popping them on my lap and smiling through picture after picture to give their family something to hold on to after they were gone.

For the rest, those going through chemotherapy, experimental treatments and the long, endlessly long recovery from yet another surgery, this was just a moment in time. Their parents smiled and laughed with them as they unwrapped their presents and poked Santa's squishy belly, knowing next year they'd be celebrating Christmas on their own sofa.

Leaning back against the wall, I looked out over the sparse room with its Charlie Brown Christmas tree and endless collection of monitors and beepers and smiled. There was magic here. Children with nothing to smile about giggled infectiously. Exhausted parents relaxed and let their children roam. Rosalie and Nick, non-humans that should have stuck out like a sore thumb, blended seamlessly into the crowd, opening boxes and unwrapping toys for little fingers that were too tired to pluck the tape away from the paper.

One little girl crawled up into Rosalie's lap and tugged gently at her hair. I couldn't hear what she said, but Rosalie blinked suspiciously a couple of times before tucking the little girl's head against her chest.

Nick stroked a hand down his sister's hair, smiling down at them both with affection. Having her back had done wonders to soften him up. He was _almost_ tolerable these days. The pair had been inseparable since Thanksgiving, and while I had no idea how Emmett felt about the whole thing (Emily and Kim were watching the daycare, but Emmett still had to report to Charlie) I knew I was enjoying having them both around.

Imagine that.

Next to me, a little boy attached to a heart monitor crawled up into Santa's lap with some help from the nurse hovering at his side.

"Are you the real Santa?" he asked skeptically. Santa ho-ho-ho'd, but my heart broke just a little. So many of these kids didn't believe in magic anymore. What was the world coming to when a five year old couldn't believe in Santa Claus?

I couldn't understand a thing Jack said through the rush of blood pounding in my ears. Looking around, I saw that the staff and volunteers had everything under control. All the presents had been passed out, and nurses were settling their patients in for a snack or a nap or another round of medication. In the corner of the room Dr. Aaronson, head of pediatric research, strummed Christmas carols on the guitar while his wife sang along.

With everything going on, no one would notice if one little elf left to get a quick breath of fresh air. Slipping out the side door I snuck down the hall, ducked into my office and closed the door. Settling back into my comfortable chair, I finally let go.

"Hey, you all right?"

I waved a hand toward the chairs in front of my desk without opening my eyes, or bothering to check the steady flow of tears dripping down my cheeks. "That little boy you were talking to? He's not going to make it till Christmas, Jack. Neither is the little girl on Rosalie's lap, or the toddler in the crib next to the Christmas tree."

A rustle of movement and Jack was kneeling at my feet, warm hands chafing fingers that had gone ice cold. "How many of these guys are yours?"

"Most of them, in some form or another. It's never enough, Jack. It doesn't matter how hard we work, or how much research we do, it's never enough to make sure all of them get to go home for Christmas." My voice broke. "You never get used to it, you know? Losing patients. They say you do, but you don't. You can never get used to knowing that you were supposed to be their miracle worker. But you were just a human, so you let them down. And now they're dead."

Leaning forward, I rested my forehead on the soft, fuzzy fabric on his shoulder and breathed him in. His hands moved from my fingers to the back of my neck, lightly holding me while my tears dripped down onto the legs of his Santa suit. I was going to have to pick up the bill for his dry cleaning.

"Marry me," he said softly.

"Hmmm?" My voice was dreamy, still drifting on the primitive, unconscious comfort I drew from the scent of his aftershave. So it took a minute for conscious thought to kick back in when he pulled me back so he could look into my face.

"Marry me, Max. Make a life with me. Build a family with me." Taking a deep breath, Jack reached into the inside pocket of his Santa suit and pulled out a small jewelry box. "I was going to wait until later to do this, but I can't think of any time that's more perfect than this one."

I'll never know what I would have said to that, because any hope of coherency disappeared the minute he opened that velvet covered square. Inside, two silver snakes twisted around each other, deadly fangs clutching an emerald that had been cut in a beautiful marquis. It was bizarre. It was completely inappropriate. It was…

It was absolutely perfect.

"I know you're not big on gold or diamonds, but I figured this was right up your alley. And it's nice and flat, so it won't get caught on things when you're at work."

"Oh god." Pressing my hand to my stomach, I stared at him. I was at a complete loss for words. "I don't know what to say. I didn't even know you were thinking about…I mean…"

"You didn't know I was thinking about spending the rest of our lives sharing amazing moments like this one? Max." His voice was affectionately chiding, with just a thread of nerves underneath. "We've been dating for what, a year now? I love you. You love me. I could probably live without you, but I really don't want to. Please don't make me have to find out."

Oh god. What do you do when the man you're pretty sure you're in love with kneels at your feet and offers you everything? Looking at the earnestness, the hope, the…love?...in his eyes, I knew I couldn't say no. But was I ready to say yes?

"Yes."

'Um, mouth? Maybe you could check with me first next time?'

"Really?"

The joy that bloomed in his face melted my reservations. No, I hadn't been in any hurry to sign on the dotted line, but that didn't mean I didn't know a good thing when I had it. Reaching out to cup his face, I bent down and lightly pressed my lips to his.

"Really really." Jack reached into the box and slipped the ring on my finger. Oh wow. It actually fit. Was I ever going to stop grinning like an idiot? "There's just one thing."

"Anything."

I couldn't help but laugh at the earnest naiveté in that reply. "Be very, very careful who you say that to. You never know who's going to take you up on it."

"You are." Jack squeezed my hands, bringing them to his lips and closing his eyes. "You are, for the rest of our lives."

"Yeah, about that." His eyes popped open, and I smiled at the question in them. "I think…oh man, this is going to sound horrible, but I think we should wait before setting the date. I know we've been dating for a year," I said hurriedly when dismay flicked across his face, "but really, how much of that have we actually seen each other? And I'd really, really like the chance to get used to being a fiancée before I become a wife. So…would you mind if we were just engaged for a while first?"

A slow smile chased the gloom off of his face, and he squeezed my fingers reassuringly.

"Max, you just told me you loved me enough to spend the rest of your life with me. Marriage is just a ceremony. It's not going to make you any more mine than you are right now, it just means we'll get to reap the benefits on our tax returns."

"Oh, well, as long as we're doing this for all the right reasons."

"I knew you'd see it my way." Jack's smile turned soft and he reached up, stroking a gentle thumb across my cheek. "Take as long as you want. Knowing that I get to see your beautiful face every day for the rest of my life is enough for me."

"You get to tell Alice," said a sweet, lilting voice in the doorway. "My eardrums can't take it."

I jumped, spinning with a scowl to glare at the door. Nick was leaning against my doorjamb with a smug smile on his face. Behind him, Rosalie rolled her eyes.

"She's gonna flip. She hasn't had a wedding to plan since she and Esme did Andy's."

The reminder of the woman we'd all loved and lost shot sent a quick pang shooting through my chest. Esme loved weddings. She would have been thrilled to be here for this. Not to mention more than a little bit relieved that I'd finally settled down after far too many years of going through men the way most women go through dish towels.

Unfortunately, she wasn't here. But her daughter and the man I was having slightly fewer homicidal thoughts about on a day to day basis were.

"Is there a reason you're standing there eavesdropping, horning in on one of the biggest moments of my life?"

"Oh, yeah." Nick jerked his head back toward the party. "Things are starting to wrap up in there. The kids are looking for Santa and his vixen elf mistress to say goodbye before they go back to bed."

"Okay. I'll be there in a minute."

Stretching up, Jack pressed his lips to mine for one last kiss. I did my best to ignore the niggling suspicion in the back of my mind that things were moving just a little too fast. Maybe I was being unreasonable. We had been dating, off and on, for about a year now. That was plenty of time to figure out how you felt about someone, right?

I needed to stop overthinking this and just enjoy. So I closed my eyes and lost myself in the kiss.

_**Several hours later**_

"All right Cullen, this kitchen better be stocked!"

Hollering down the hall toward the clinic (even though god knows in this house I really didn't need to) I jogged over to the fridge, giggling at the steady jingle of the bells on my toes. The party had been my last "official" duty in Seattle before my working vacation. Now it was time to dip into the gobs of vacation time I had stored up and enjoy my six week stint at Casa del Cullen.

Working vacation. That just sounded so wrong.

All right, so I didn't really mind. Jaz and Quil deserved this. But she'd better be bringing me back something good. Would texting her to remind her to bring me back something slinky be completely tasteless?

Probably. Ah well. Speaking of slinky…

I'd thought about changing when I got back from the hospital but kicked the thought out almost as quickly as it came. I was feeling elf-ish today, still riding the high of the kids' joy at the long anticipated treat and Jack's unexpected proposal.

Of course, the tunic still had to go. Replacing it with a comfy green sweater dress and thick black belt, neatly layered over the candy cane tights I'd pulled on that morning, had all been done in the interest of sharing the holiday cheer.

Getting to watch Emmett's eyes bulge out of his head was just an added bonus. Honest.

"Hoooo." Leaning back against the counter, Emmett eyed me up and down. "Does Santa know you're walking around impersonating an elf? Because I can guarantee he'd be very, very interested."

Grinning, I looked down at my outfit. "As a matter of fact, he does. But thanks for asking."

Right on cue, Jaz wandered around the corner from the clinic. With her red ponytail sticking up over the top of the chart in her hands and a lab coat that hung well past her knees (had to be Dr. C's-Jaz always custom ordered hers) she looked more like a little girl playing dress-up in her father's clothes than an actual grown up.

Considering Quil was basically just an oversized kid, it made perfect sense.

"All right, I've stacked my current cases on my desk and…ah…wow." Frowning, she tipped her head to one side, then the other, giving my outfit a careful once over. "All right, who are you and what did you do with the real Max? You look almost cheerful."

"I was feeling particularly generous today, so I decided I'd share my excellent legs with the public. After all, I'm celebrating." I nonchalantly waved my left hand in her direction. Jaz had never been slow.

"Holy crap!" Shop talk forgotten, she tossed the folder and its contents on the countertop and caught my hand. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yep." I thought my grin was going to split my face.

"Bloke got down on his knees and everything."

Oops. Between the grumble in my stomach (I never had made it to the refrigerator. Darn it.) and the fun of flirting with Emmett, not to mention getting to break the news to Jaz, I'd completely forgotten Nick was standing there.

"Wish I'd been there to see that. A man down on his knees in front of Max _not_ begging for mercy." Jaz winked cheerfully. "Gotta tell ya Max, I approve. Anyone with the brains to pick out this," she held up my hand, "definitely knows who he's dealing with. Congratulations."

"Congratulations for what? Did she finally succeed in blowing up a city?" Jasper jogged into the room, whistling in appreciation. "Looking hot girlie. I may have to rethink that Bermuda thing after all."

"Not an option anymore, bucko. Max!" Alice squealed, throwing her arms around me. "Congratulations! I'm so excited. I've seen it all, and it's going to be perfect! Oh, I can't wait. You're going to let me plan it, and it's going to be the most beautiful wedding anyone's ever seen."

Laughing, I gave Alice a squeeze. "How could it be anything else with you in charge? But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We haven't even started talking about considering picking a date, much less actually planning the wedding."

"It couldn't. It's a simple as that." Walking over to the fridge I still hadn't gotten around to opening, Alice reached in and pulled out a small cake box. "It's not a lot, but I knew you weren't going to want a lot of fuss and bother with Jack not around so…here."

Sometimes having friends with mad freaky vampire skills was just so far past cool it wasn't even funny. Setting the box down on the table, I popped open the top and caught my breath. Elegantly etched in silver icing were two snakes, winding around each other cradling a…yep, there it was. She'd taken my ring and made it into a cake.

I had the best friends ever.

"Here."

A handful of tissues appeared in front of my face, and I used them to dab up the tears I hadn't even realized I was crying.

"You're the best. All of you. Really."

But there was still one very noticeable face missing. Where was Dr. C? I got my answer when a door slammed in the front of the house, followed by the sound of footsteps on the hardwood floor leading into the clinic.

"Carlisle!" called Alice, bouncing cheerfully. "Come on back to the kitchen. Max has a surprise for us!"

"That sounds dangerous." Carlisle appeared at the kitchen doorway, absently finger combing hair that was still damp from the shower. The light scent of shampoo drifted across the kitchen, and I couldn't resist the smirk that came crawling in after it. .

"Got suckered into doing time at the ER again?"

His eyebrows arched in surprise. "Yes, as a matter of fact. How did you…?"

"The shampoo. It's, ah, distinctive. And the ER at Port Angeles is the only one that stocks it." I flashed him a quick grin. "Don't ask how I know that. You don't want to know."

Oh, the stories I could tell.

"Distinctive is one way to put it," he agreed dryly. "It smells horrible, but it's better than the eau de vomit I was covered in prior."

"Ugh. Been there."

If I had a dime for every time I'd had a patient puke on me in the ER during cold and flu season I'd be a very, very rich woman right now. Of course, it would all go into buying new shoes, but still.

"Okay, you guys are going to completely kill the taste of this cake if you keep talking about vomit," Alice complained, grabbing Carlisle's hand and dragging him over. "You wouldn't believe how hard it was to get someone who could do this level of detail in silver."

"They did a beautiful job, Alice. This looks amazing, if a bit…creepy," he finally decided, shifting his smile over to his exuberant daughter. "And it smells wonderful. But what's the occasion?"

"Max is getting married!" Squealing (again), Alice bounced up and down, clapping her hands. Then she clapped those hands over her mouth with a look of horror. "Oh no! I'm so sorry. I should have let you tell him. Oh my gosh, Max, I can't believe I did that."

"It's no big deal Alice. Really." I held up my hand to show off the ring. "Jack popped the question at the kids' Christmas party this morning."

Silence hung heavy in the air as everyone waited with bated breath to see what Dr. C was going to say. Um, was I missing something here? And why didn't people hang on my every word like that?

The smile slowly slipping from his face, Carlisle reached out and took my left hand. He studied the ring in silence for a moment, a frown crinkling his forehead as he ran his thumb along the delicate silver band. Butterflies danced anxiously in my stomach. I couldn't shake the question of what, exactly, he knew that I didn't.

He lifted his head and our gaze locked, and for the second time that day I felt the bottom drop out. Vampire hypnosis? Freaky trick of the light? Natural gravitational pull? Whatever was floating in those amber irises hooked me like a fish, making my breath catch and my heart pound just a little faster while everything around us dropped away like we were caught in the middle of a bad chick flick. Then his eyes flickered away, a small smile curled the corners of his lips, and the moment was gone.

Woah. What the hell just happened?

"Congratulations, Maxine." He lifted my hand to his lips in a courtly gesture. "We wish you both all the best. If you'll excuse me." He nodded at the room at large, then drifted out. A second later I heard his office door quietly slip closed.

"Well, that was weird." Okay, even I knew that Dr. C wasn't as naturally bouncy as Alice, but I'd been expecting a little bit more than that. Despite his polite words he looked more like a man carrying around a portent of doom than a man who was about to watch one of his brood tie the knot.

"Who knows with Carlisle these days?" Alice glanced down the hallway, confusion and just a hint of irritation flashing across her face. "He's been in the weirdest mood lately. Hopefully he'll snap out of it soon. I can't see..." Shaking her head, Alice drifted off and turned back to me. Oh joy. "Enough about my parents. When are you going to tell your mom?"


	18. Carlisle: Ground Zero

**Chapter 18**

**Forks**

**Carlisle**

The clinic was always dark and still in the wee hours of the morning, before the sun crested the horizon. Rustles, softly spoken words and the low drone of the television were a comforting reminder of the children in other parts of the house when I wanted it, easily drowned out by the strains of Bach or Schubert when I didn't. All day long the halls were filled with the sound of laughter, the chatter of people coming and going, the crying of children. At night there was paperwork to be done, phone calls to be made. The endless small chores that came with keeping a house.

But here, in the dark just before dawn, there was peace, and standing at the window in my office I drank it in.

Esme had often teased me that this office had become my sanctuary, my own space in a house that was often maddeningly full of people. She hadn't been wrong. Too many years alone had established a fine appreciation for the miracle of family, but when you were an adult surrounded by immortal, perpetual teenagers…Well. It was my firm and established opinion that given that scenario, even the most sainted men would go looking for a place to hide.

I never claimed to be a saint.

The squeak of an aging mattress, followed by a restless murmur, interrupted my rambling and had the muscles in my shoulders and back stiffening. Impossible to fully relax when every one of my senses was almost hyper-attuned to the woman sleeping down the hall. I wasn't sure if I was praying she'd stay asleep or hoping she wouldn't, just for the pleasure of her company…and an opportunity to get past this newly discovered awkwardness before we would be forced to spend the day constantly circling in each other's orbit.

I had, I was ashamed to say, spent the evening avoiding her as diligently as possible without being rude. Hiding behind paperwork was beneath me, but I'd done it gladly for a chance to come to grips with the ring on her finger and everything it stood for. Happiness. Hope. A chance to be loved first, last and always by a man without any other claims on his heart. All part of a future she deserved, and had every right to expect.

I was determined to be happy for her. I truly was. But with the sharp ache of having lost something precious nipping at my heels I didn't have it in me to be happy for her just yet.

Ridiculous to mourn the loss of something I'd never had. I didn't want her. No, that wasn't true. I wanted her, with an intensity I couldn't quite wrap my mind around given the fact that I was still mourning my _wife. _More accurate to say I didn't _want_ to want her. She certainly didn't want me to want her. The ring on her finger was a tangible reminder of just how far out of my reach any possibility of a relationship with her actually was.

4:30. Right on cue, the small alarm I kept on the corner of my desk went off. Adieu, peace and quiet. Tomorrow is another day, and I thanked god for the distraction it promised. They say all things change in time. It wasn't true. Hundreds of years had brought little change to the madness that a woman could bring to a man.

I was tired of wallowing in it. Tired of wallowing altogether. The previous evening's announcement had brought an end to even the most random of dreams. It didn't matter what century you were living in, a gentleman simply didn't spend his days lusting after another man's wife. Perhaps now that she was spoken for my mind would stop incessantly reminding me that Esme was gone, while Max was very much alive. Stop telling me to ignore the festering pool of guilt and just do something about this rapidly growing attraction for a woman who was as different from Esme as it was possible to be and still be female.

Stop beating me over the head with the reminder that when you were 400 years old, a woman's age became a moot point as long as she had reached her majority. I didn't need to feel like the worst kind of pedophile for having almost tripped over my own tongue when I'd walked into the kitchen, where one of my daughters' best friends was standing there looking like every naughty elf ever incarnated by man's extremely active imagination.

'Don't go there, Carlisle. Just…don't go there. It's going to be a very long, very uncomfortable day if you don't let that one go.'

A quick glance at the clock let me know it was creeping up on five o'clock. A few more moments of quiet, then I was going to have to get ready to begin my day. Even though we didn't (officially) open for another couple of hours, it was only a matter of time until the first patients of the day were knocking on the door. There were far too many people in Forks and the surrounding area that would never get around to going to the doctor if they had to miss work to do it. I'd learned a long time ago that running a clinic in a small town meant opening my doors early. It usually didn't even blip as an inconvenience on my radar; it was a rare night I wasn't patching up one of the pack after midnight patrol anyway.

Jazmine, with her need to sleep, was another story altogether.

She was going to despise the way the clinic would monopolize her life when she took over. I'd been pushing her to start looking at other doctors to fill my spot, but she made a valid point. It was impossible to separate our supernatural patients from our more human ones. Max was the only one even remotely qualified to treat the Quileute wolves that was willing to be here, and the odds of her willingly saying goodbye to Seattle and moving out here were next to nil.

Yet another person who was going to suffer if I went through with this. It didn't escape my notice that thoughts about terminating this interminable existence were becoming more conditional by the minute.

A blast of rock filled the lower half of the house, making me frown. Had I missed one of the children coming downstairs? The music was followed by a thunk, then Max's pungent diatribe about the intelligence (or lack thereof) of people who decided working hours should start before the sun came up.

There was a niggling suspicion in the back of my mind that she was talking about me. That same niggling suspicion said I had probably been a bit…overly optimistic…when thinking about how much I would have enjoyed having her company in the wee hours of the dawn.

Truthfully, I hadn't expected to see her for several hours yet. She wasn't one for keeping early office hours. Ever. That she was even contemplating doing so while she was here was, I was sure, a courtesy to me more than any geniune desire to keep early hours. Out of respect for that I tried not to laugh when she stumbled into the door of the office, half of her jet black, purple tipped spikes poking up like a raven's wing in one direction, the rest lying flat against her head. Red rings waved in a steady lattice across the pale skin of her cheeks and forehead, and an old, fuzzy bathrobe draped down over her arms, stopping well past her knees with enough fabric left over to hold Emmett and Rosalie and half of the Texas Rangers.

I tried not to laugh. I really did. But I didn't succeed.

"Good morning, Maxine," I said (as politely as possible) in between snorts.

She turned a baleful glare in my direction.

"You're lucky I like you, Cullen, or that smirk on your face would give me the overwhelming urge to stick a thermometer up your ass." Balling her hands into fists, she scrubbed at her eyes like a sleepy child. "I will never understand what drives a perfectly sane person to get up at the crack of dawn to do…well, anything."

"We always have a few stragglers in the morning." The groggy slur in her voice was incredibly amusing, but a healthy respect for my equipment had me biting back the urge to tell her about it. I'd never been slow, and while an otoscope to the side of the head wouldn't hurt me I didn't have time to go to Seattle and replace it. "You don't have to be up, you know. It won't get busy for several hours yet. I can handle this myself if you want to go back to sleep."

"No, I'm cool." Max waved a hand in the air, her flippant answer belied by the huge yawn that cracked her face. "I'm here to help you out with all this, remember? Not lounge around like Sleeping Beauty while you have all the fun." She frowned, then walked around to where I stood in front of the window. Furrowing her chin down in the folds of that hideous bathrobe she wrapped her arms around my waist, nestling her cheek and its fuzzy buffer against my chest with a sleepy sigh of contentment. "Doesn't look like you're having much fun at the moment though. What's up?"

The innocent sweetness of the early morning embrace almost undid me. Wrapping my arms around her, enjoying the way the warm red fabric felt under my hands, I leaned back against the windowsill to take her weight more comfortably. I didn't think telling her I'd been fantasizing about getting to do precisely this was a good idea. I went with something a little more comfortable, if not nearly as pleasant.

"I lost a patient yesterday."

"Oh, hey." Her arms tightened around me, and I closed my eyes to savor the moment. "I'm sorry. No wonder you weren't in the mood to celebrate when you got home. What happened?"

"A teenage boy got between his father and his next hit. Took a 44 caliber bullet to the left atrium. I did the best I could, but there just wasn't enough left to put back together." Her silent support urged me to keep talking, to tell her about how the boy's mother had crumpled in the waiting room, how I'd had to sedate her when what I really wanted to do was grab her by the shoulders and shake her until her teeth rattled for not having left the man the first time he brought his addiction into her house.

It had always been difficult to share these moments with Esme, or the children, none of whom knew what to say and therefore invariably fell back on platitudes. It couldn't be helped. You did what you could. You have to let it go. Max and Jazmine were the only ones who could truly understand the tiny pieces of yourself you lost every time someone died on your table, and while the conversation had started off as a distraction I was glad I had told her. She didn't say anything, just held on while I spilled the whole sordid tale.

"It's unbelievable, how carelessly cruel people can be," she murmured when I was done. "That woman probably never gave a thought to the danger she was putting her child in by refusing to give her husband the boot."

Echoes of remembrance filled her voice. Oh hell. I hadn't given a thought to how Max would relate to this case. I knew that before being adopted Max had lived with her parents, and that her father had been a user with a penchant for using his wife and his five year old daughter for a punching bag.

She'd been placed into foster care when a school nurse noticed the bruises on her arms and legs, and she'd spent three years being bounced from home to home before finally being placed with the Donovans. She knew all too well the hell a mother's selfishness could cause, and I was a jerk for making her relive those moments all over again.

"Hell, Maxine, I'm sorry. I didn't think."

"About what?" She tipped her head back to stare at me blankly.

"About…you. And how this might affect you, given your past." I was at a loss for words when she smiled.

"You're a sweetheart. But don't worry about it. It is what it is. I'm not that little girl anymore, remember? I survived, turned into a semi-responsible, contributing member of society. I only got brought home by the cops one…two…five…never mind. The point is, I made it. Too many children don't."

She nestled back into my chest, her eyes fluttering shut as her breathing slowly evened out. Soft affection bloomed in my chest. Was she actually sleeping?

"I'm up, I'm up," she muttered when I shifted to get a better look. "Just insanely comfortable. I think you missed your calling, Dr. C. You'd have made a great body pillow." The mental picture those words kindly provided had me biting my tongue to hold in a low groan of frustration. I was suddenly, painfully aware of the fact that we were alone in this wing of the house. It wouldn't take much at all to slip a hand along the loosely knotted belt of her robe and peel it back, losing myself in the soft morning warmth of her skin.

"But, as nice as this is, I should probably get moving if I don't want to be showing my mad fashion sense to your patients." Max groaned, pulling back just far enough to melt backward over my hands and crack her back. The sensuous slide had a whimper crawling up the back of my throat. Sacrum, sacroiliac joint, ilium, fifth lumbar vertebra, first lumbar vertebra… "Oh, much better. Point me toward a shower and some caffeine-and a toothbrush-and I'll be something resembling human, I swear.

"Oh, right. I almost forgot." Moving with almost embarrassing speed I slipped out from underneath that loose, flexible body and grabbed the box I'd stashed under my desk the day before. "I have something for you."

"What's this?" Reaching out and scooping up the present, she held it up to her ear and gave it a shake. Frustration slowly gave way to amusement at the suspicious wonder in her face.

"It's a thank-you for covering for Jazmine this week."

"Oh." She frowned, eyeing the simple striped paper and the bow on the top that Alice had personally spent almost an hour tweaking to perfection. Then she set it back down on the desk. "You didn't have to do that. Really. I'm happy to help."

"I don't seem to recall that being what you told Jazmine when you made her promise to bring you back a gift from Barbados." I grinned when she flushed. Without realizing what I was doing I leaned back against the desk, wincing slightly at the crinkle of papers I was sure I would regret wrinkling later. Of course, if that was the worst thing I had to regret after this morning I was still ahead of the curve.

Sticking her hands in the pockets of her oversized robe, Max shrugged. "That's different."

"Oh?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, Jaz is my best friend. You're…you." She wrinkled her nose. "That didn't come out right."

"I think I understand what you meant." And part of me sighed in regret. "But I would very much like to believe that we were friends as well. And friends are permitted to purchase small tokens of gratitude, correct? Besides," I deliberately lightened my tone to keep from wandering down a path I was too raw to explore, "as you'll see if you ever get around to opening it, my interests weren't entirely philanthropic."

"Oh. A self-serving present, huh?" She looked at the box with a new gleam in her eye, reminding me for all the world of a curious kitten presented with a new ball of string. "Well. That's a different kettle of fish altogether."

"My point exactly." I caught myself anxiously holding my breath as she untied the bow, setting it aside before carefully slipping a tapered nail underneath the tape. It didn't matter. I hadn't needed oxygen in almost 400 years, but that didn't stop me from laughing at my very human reaction to watching her unwrap the gift Alice and I had shopped for the week before.

"Oh wow." Max held up the box with reverence. "Keurig. A gift from the gods." Looking over at me, she smirked. "Designed especially for the busy doctor, Dr. Cullen?"

"No waiting on your first cup, no cold pots and, most importantly, no having to drink _my_ coffee." The relief that I felt at her obvious pleasure was ridiculous. Wasn't that why I'd bought the damned thing in the first place? "You can set it up in Jazmine's office while you're here, and put it in your own when you get back to Seattle."

"You're the bee's knees, Dr. C." Grinning, she cuddled the box to her chest. "I'm going to go wash this out, then enjoy the almost unheard of ecstasy of drinking a fresh cup on the way to the shower."

"It's already been washed. All you have to do is add water and enjoy."

Already halfway to the door, Max stopped and stared. Then she carefully set the box down and ran over, throwing her arms around me with enough enthusiasm to send me stumbling away from the desk and into the wall.

"Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so much."

"Well, if I'd have known you were going to be this happy about it I'd have bought you one of the darn things years ago."

I was kidding, but the tears sparkling in her eyes when she tipped her head back to look into my face weren't feigned. Without another word she stretched up, planted a kiss on my cheek and left, scooping up her prize and dancing out the door while I stared after her, trying to figure out how on earth a simple present had managed to go so horribly wrong.

Apparently that morning wasn't going to offer any moments of clarity. Almost the moment Max disappeared there was a knock at the (locked) clinic door. One of the younger wolves had been in a tussle with a bobcat. Sam Jr. had taken a head dive off of the refrigerator trying to help himself to the cookie jar and had a serious, if temporary concussion. One of Charlie's friends had hit a deer on his way to work, sending a piece of glass into his leg and partially shredding an artery. He decided to walk back to the clinic instead of calling an ambulance, and as a result by the time he got there he'd managed to lose so much blood I had to call a chopper and have him taken out by Medevac.

By the time these emergencies were taken care of the sun was up, the sound of children laughing echoed up from the back of the house…and I was three hours late for appointments.

"I am so sorry," I began, stopping in surprise when I walked into the waiting room. There was hardly anyone there. The huge pile of charts I'd laid out the night before was halfway gone. The handful of people who lined the waiting room walls were chatting happily among themselves, interrupted by the occasional, barking cough from the woman in the corner.

No one looked like they'd been sitting there for several hours waiting to be seen. In fact, everyone looked downright…happy.

"All right Mrs. Jimms, you're all set. Now, no more pinching the grocery boy's bottom, okay? I don't care how cute it is, it's bad for your arthritis."

Max stepped out of one of the exam rooms, a hand lightly resting on the elbow of one of our elderly patients I was scheduled to see that morning. The notoriously difficult old woman was tittering like a schoolgirl, but that wasn't the biggest surprise. The biggest surprise was Max herself, dressed in a pantsuit in a lovely shade of purple and a pair of simple lavender flats. I hadn't known she even owned shoes made out of anything other than black leather. With barely a splash of makeup on a face that was usually covered in it, she looked amazing. And very, very different.

I couldn't decide if I should compliment her or drag her back to the exam room for a full body scan. Alien possession was the only explanation that made sense.

"Hey, Dr. C. Welcome back!" With a smile and a wave Max sent her patient on her way. "The road warrior get off alright?"

"Um, yes." I quickly shook off my befuddlement. "I managed to suture the artery and transfuse two pints. He'll be out of commission for a while, but he's going to make it."

She shuddered. "Better you than me. You've always had a better hand with a needle."

"You do just fine. Max." I caught her arm when she turned to grab the next chart. "Thank you."

"For what?" she asked, eyes going wide with surprise.

"For this." I waved my hand toward the almost empty waiting room. "Taking my morning appointments, keeping ahead of the rush. I expected a riot. Instead, it seems you have things well in hand."

"Oh." She looked around, then shrugged. "You didn't ask for any help with the man trying to bleed to death on your doorstep. I figured a handful of cold symptoms and a case of wandering fingers was the least I could do until you got back. Besides." Lips quirking into a devilish smile, she caught either end of the instrument draped around my neck and tugged. "There are worse things than having a hot man with a stethoscope owe me a favor."

"You tell him sweetie," called out the woman in the corner. Grinning, Max patted me on the cheek, then called back her next patient, leaving me staring after her for the second time that day.

"Keep watching that girl like that, Dr. Cullen, and you're going to have to marry her."

MaryEllen Newton, the woman I'd heard coughing earlier, was seventy five if she was a day, and she used her age as an excuse to be an inveterate busybody.

"I don't know if you'd heard the news Miss Newton, but that particular lady is already spoken for."

She tut-tutted. "That boy who doesn't know that a diamond is a girl's best friend? Yes, I heard. That's the problem with you young people these days. You don't realize it's not over till the fat lady sings. And last time I checked, she was still warming up." She reached up and cheerfully pinched the cheek that had just been kissed. "Remember doc, you ain't gonna live forever. You don't have time to let that girl slip away."

I don't know if she truly didn't know what I was, refused to believe it or simply didn't care. Either way, it was impossible to miss the irony in her words. I would live forever, if I wanted. I had all the time in the world. It wouldn't change a thing. Maxine Donovan was still out of my reach.

"Dr. Cullen. Do you have a minute?"

The polite, respectful voice in my doorway had me absently waving a hand toward the smooth leather chairs before I looked up to see who I was talking to. It was the end of the day, a day that had run with an almost ruthless efficiency thanks to my current partner. Max had left about an hour before (Undoubtedly to get a head start at fleecing Jasper at poker while I wasn't there to yell at her for it. The boy would never learn.) so it was with no small amount of surprise that I looked up to find Nick sitting in the chair in front of me.

"Well. You're not who I was expecting to see." I leaned back in my own chair to get a good look at the man. He was dressed in his usual black on black, but his arrogant demeanor had disappeared. Instead he leaned forward, hands clasped lightly between his knees, and squirmed uncertainly in his chair. "What can I do for you, Mr. Smith? Aren't you supposed to be watching over Max?"

"She's in the kitchen with Jasper and Alice. Couldn't be safer if I had her locked up in a box in my room." My eyes narrowed at the imagery he painted, and he hurried on. "I just…I wanted to stop by and thank you. For taking such good care of Rosie all these years."

Rosie? As dearly as I loved the young woman, and I did love her dearly, I would never be able to wrap my mind around the idea of anyone referring to the sharp tongued Rosalie Hale as "Rosie". But then, I suppose you could forgive much in a younger brother you wouldn't be able to forgive in anyone else.

"Rosalie is a pleasure," I said finally, feeling the pull on the corner of my lips when he snorted in laughter.

"She's a right pain in the arse, is what she is. But she's my sister, and I love her."

The surprise he and Rosalie had dropped on us this past Thanksgiving still didn't sit well with me. Rose hadn't told me much, only that Nick was her younger brother from her human life and that he was now a vampire. She didn't mention anything about what had happened in his life between then and now but, knowing that he was in Roberto's employ, I could fill in at least some of the blanks.

That didn't mean that now that I had a few uninterrupted moments I wasn't going to make him fill in the rest.

"Tell me something Nick. You've obviously been aware of what…happened…to Rosalie for quite some time." I chose my words carefully, not sure how much of her personal past Rose would have felt comfortable sharing with her little brother. "Why wait until now to find her?"

His face soured, lip curling as though he'd smelled something nasty.

"I know exactly what happened to Rose. That bastard bragged around town about it for weeks. No one was surprised when he turned up dead." Lips melting into a scowl, Nick looked down at the carpet and fiddled with his hands. "I was twelve years old, just barely a kid. I wanted to kill him, but mom wouldn't let me. Then he was dead, and it didn't matter." He smirked. "Bet it would have shocked the hell out of those self-righteous jerks to find out it was Rose, come to get her vengeance after all."

"What did you do after Royce was dead?" It wasn't the question I wanted to ask. I wanted to know how he'd come to Roberto, why he'd waited so long to seek out Rosalie. Why he'd left his sister alone and lonely when she'd obviously been crying out for love. But the man sitting in front of me was just a man, not the impregnable fortress he'd appeared to be when I first met him. He was concerned about someone he loved, someone he'd had to do without for far too long. I could respect that, and treat it with the care and consideration it deserved.

"I grew up, joined the military." His eyes, still turned to the floor, took on the glazed, glassy look of a man lost in the hell of his own past. "They sent me to Germany during WWII. Did some shooting, did some scouting." He looked up then, meeting my eyes. "Did some spying."

Ah. Things were starting to make sense.

"It was a disgusting, despicable job, but one I was very good at. Eventually my…talents…came to the attention of certain individuals. They offered me a choice. Continue on as I had, or become a vampire and discover a whole new skill set. Have the tools to make a real difference." He spread his arms wide. "And here I am."

"And what is it you do for Roberto when you're not here?"

He shrugged, the gesture deliberately vague. "A little of this, a little of that."

I could only imagine what that little might be. Roberto didn't hire spies. He certainly didn't seek them out, cultivate them, turn them and train them. The man in front of me was an assassin. And that made him very, very dangerous.

Not the kind of man you'd want to have for an enemy, but very much someone I wanted on my side when it came to keeping Max safe.

"Why did you wait so long to seek out Rosalie?"

That was a question that was much closer to my heart than his past. I knew Roberto, and knew I wanted to know as little about his darker dealings as I could get away with. But I was very, very interested to find out what kind of man left his sister pining for six decades when he was only a plane ride away.

"I thought she was dead for a long time. Then one day I was doing an op in Anchorage, and there she was. I couldn't believe it." He laughed self-deprecatingly. "I didn't believe it at first. Then I heard her yelling at that giant lug of a husband of hers, and I knew. No one can cut with a word quite like my Rosie.

"My team-other men from my unit that had turned as well-was knee deep in kind of trouble a girl like my Rosie shouldn't be anywhere near. I told myself I'd find her after that, but the truth is in my line of work trouble's just a matter of taking one day after another. It's no kind of a life for a girl like Rose, and I had my orders to give her a good, wide berth. I have enemies, a lot of them. They would love to have something to use against me. So I stepped back, content to watch and make sure she was safe."

"You were there, seven years ago. I wondered why the newborns were so few." It wasn't a question, and he knew it.

"Yeah, we were there. We'd been told to leave them alone while they were in Seattle. I guess your girl there was in tight with the Volturi. But as soon as Roberto found out they were moving on Forks he gave a couple of us the thumbs-up to help clean up the mess. We hid out in the woods, several miles from here, and picked them off as they walked past."

So. Roberto had known about the newborn attacks, had sent reinforcements and hadn't bothered to tell us anything about it. How very like him. Remembering how close we had come to losing Jacob and Leah in that fight, however, I had no reason to complain.

"Why now?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Why now?" I carefully picked through my words. "Why are you here in my house, Nicholas Hale? Why did Roberto pick you to watch Max, knowing you and Rosalie would be thrown together?"

Even though he was Rosalie's brother, not a suitor, and more family to her than I would ever be, I couldn't help feeling very much like a father right then. Rose was thrilled to have her brother back in her life. Knowing who he was, and who he worked for, I couldn't help but wonder how long this renewed acquaintance was going to be. I didn't want Rose to pin her hopes on him, only to be disappointed when he walked away.

"I guess he figured it was time." Nick stood up, holding out his hand. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Dr. Cullen. I need to get back to Max before she gets herself in trouble."

"She's good at that." I reached out and squeezed the offered fingers, reassured by the steady strength in his grip. "Thank you for coming to speak to me, Nick."

Nick nodded and disappeared out the door. A second later Emmett appeared, staring after him with a perplexed look stamped across his face. From the dirty, scuffed shoes on his feet and the smear of iced sludge across the front of his shirt, I was guessing he'd managed to talk Rose into the game of football she'd been saying no to after all.

"What did he want?" There was no love lost between Rosalie's husband and her newly discovered brother. I couldn't help my concern that that was going to become a problem before it was all said and done.

"He wanted to speak to me. What can I do for you Emmett?"

"Oh yeah, right. I wanted to ask. I just proposed a trip to the beach after the New Year and almost got my head ripped off. Do you know what Rose has against Hawaii?"


	19. Max: For Whom the Phone Tolls

**December**

**Forks**

**Max**

"I look like my grandmother."

My reflection stared back at me, taunting me with the prim prissiness of its very existence. Ugh. I looked like a freak. I looked like an alien. I looked…

I looked like a girl.

I still couldn't put my finger on what, exactly, had inspired this sudden rash of conformity. Probably the looks I still got when I strolled down the streets of Forks, decked out in my favorite mini-skirt and black leather fuck-me boots. The ones that said I was nothing but trouble. The ones that wondered what on earth I was doing darkening the doorstep of the sainted Cullen family and corrupting their sweet little Bella.

Jesus. If they only knew.

Since I didn't feel like spending my entire six week stint in Forks justifying my existence, however, I'd sucked it up and dug into the tiny portion of my wardrobe reserved exclusively for visits back home. Today's special featured a plain white blouse, black slacks and low-heeled slingbacks Alice had picked up a few years ago, then decided she couldn't stand. They looked damn cute with the leather pants I wore out clubbing in the winter, but when you matched them up to this caterer's ensemble it just looked wrong.

The thick gold cuffs Emmett and Rosalie brought back from their last trip to Giza were the only thing that kept me from melting into the woodwork. Emmett had picked them out for me because…okay, I don't know why he picked them out. I'm sure there was a pun on keeping me cuffed in there somewhere. He was such a horndog. Rosalie thought they were pretty. I was just pressed on the fact that I had family to bring me back gifts from fun, exotic destinations.

And yeah, the whole cuffed thing was pretty hot. But you didn't hear that from me.

The ominous ticking of the clock, and the pale strains of light just starting to dance across the floor, reminded me that it was time to go join the human race. These people and their mornings. Day four of my QT at Casa del Cullen and I was no closer to getting used to seeing the sun rise than I was when I got here. Ah well. The steaming cup on the nightstand next to me reminded me it wasn't all bad. Dr. C kept me caffeinated. Emmett and Alice, of all people, kept me fed.

Sooner or later I was going to have to stop letting Jasper fatten my bank account, but it was hard to give up something I was so very good at. You have to feel nervous about bluffing for the empathic vampire to pick up on it. Lying, even little lies, didn't bother me in the least. I was the daughter of a hustler. People thought it was adorable when a five year old knew how to clear the table. My father thought it was adorable when he didn't have to hustle for cash for his next hit. And without that little advantage in his corner, Jasper was just another guy who thought testosterone gave him a leg up at the table.

Dr. C usually busted us before my take-home cracked five digits. I think he was finally doing the parental thing and letting Jasper learn how to cut his losses. Not that Jasper was going to particularly care for a while yet. I could try for a century and not even come close to putting a dent in Jazzy's residual income.

Not that I needed the cash. It was just the principle of the thing.

"So, Max, lightning manage to strike you down yet for impersonating a member of the human race?"

Bella's voice, chipper, if slightly strained, brought an instant smile to my face. That smile disappeared the minute I turned around and got a good look at her.

"Bells, what the hell did you do to yourself this time?"

From the amount of blood staining her white t-shirt (WHY did that girl even bother to buy white? It always ended badly) and slacks she'd either lost an internal organ or had a nervous breakdown and stabbed a knife through Jake's heart. Not that I couldn't understand the urge. When you were married to a guy who could heal just about anything inside of an hour and a half, there wasn't much standing in the way between you and committing grievous bodily harm. But somehow, I just couldn't see Bella going for it.

Andy, still sporting a rather impressive bedhead, looked apologetic. "Totally my fault. She was helping me slice and dice the chicken I'd planned on offering up for ritual sacrifice tonight. I distracted her, and voila."

"Massive blood loss by stupidity."

Bella's voice was quivery, and she was looking about six shades whiter than usual. Which was pretty bad, considering she looked like a ghost half the time anyway. Now that I'd a second to get past the knee-jerk panic of seeing my best friend looking like a murder vic, however, there wasn't as much blood as I'd originally thought. A deep red gash ran most of the way from wrist to elbow, dripping blood down the side of her arm onto the Cullens' impeccable floors. Bella, Bella, Bella.

Ah well. It wasn't fatal. A handful of stitches, a shot of orange juice (for her) and vodka (for me), and she'd be good to go.

"All right beautiful, mama will fix you right up. Andy, take her on down to exam one and help her lie down, will you?"

Neither one of them moved. Jake's little sister's face (well, adoptive sister, but I sure as hell wasn't going to throw any stones) was almost as pale as Bella's. Her breathing was short and shallow, and she was going out of her way to avoid looking at the carnage. Crap.

"If you're going to pass out, at least find a bed to do it on first. I don't want to have to move you later."

"No, I'm good."

Andy gulped again, her face going an interesting shade of green. I barely got the bucket under her mouth before she puked up everything but the kitchen sink. Gawd. This just kept getting better.

Where the _hell_ was Carlisle when you needed him?

"All right, I can only deal with one of you falling apart at a time. Andy, does anything hurt? Stomach, throat, head? Stiff neck?" In a quick, unprofessional move I stuck a hand up on her forehead while she shook her head no. "All right. Clammy, not hot. You'll live long enough for me to turn Bella into Frankenstein's monster." I caught her around the waist and led her over to the bed. Sinking back into the pillows she smiled wanly, then rolled over on her side and went back to worshipping the lord of the trash.

Bella was starting to look a little green by this point too. Oh, hell no. One emesis emitting patient at a time was enough for me.

Turned out I didn't get that lucky. Bella barely made it to the exam room before clutching her stomach and racing for the biohazard box. (Those nice, thick bags? Best. Invention. Ever.) Did I do the professional thing and wait for her to finish emptying her stomach before going anywhere near her, or did I do the best friend thing and make sure she didn't get puke in her hair?

It was a no brainer. Love won out over sense and sensibility every time. I grabbed a pair of gloves and prepared to do what needed to be done.

"Thanks," she whispered when her stomach was finally empty and she was lying on the bed.

Syringe in hand, I went to work numbing her up. "Hey, what are friends for, right? In sickness and in health, for drunkerer or soberer, for richer or broke as craperer, etc, etc."

"Um, I think that's marriage. Except for the whole drunker or soberer thing. That's all you."

"What can I say? I live to please. And that mariachi bar downtown was very pleasing indeed."

"I can't argue with that." The memory made us both smile. There was nothing like a man with a mandolin after a bit too much tequila to brighten your day. Bella looked at the needle in my hand and closed her eyes. "I feel like such an idiot."

"For what?" I wasn't really paying attention to her rambling. Girlfriend had managed to do a real number on herself this time. Silly me. It had been at least six months since her last visit. (What? You wouldn't hack your friends' medical charts if given the chance?) She was way overdue for another catastrophe.

"For stumbling in here at a hideous hour of the morning. For Andy getting sick in your room. For making you clean utter and unspeakable nastiness out of the biohazard box. Take your pick."

"It is a hideous hour of the morning, but that seems to be when everyone comes out to play. I swear, we get more people in here before 10 am than we see the whole rest of the day. What is _wrong_ with you people? Second, Andy getting sick wasn't your fault. If she feels half as bad as she looks, I'm just glad she made it to the trash can instead of hitting the chairs in the waiting room. And," I couldn't help the fiendish grin that took on a life of its own just thinking about point number three. "I am _so_ not cleaning out that box. The trash can either. As soon as he gets back from wherever he disappeared to, that's got Dr. C's name all over it."

"Least he could do after leaving you with this morning's festivities," Bella agreed. Her eyes were still closed, and she was starting to drift. Good. If she could sleep through this, and catch a nap in the process, that was a win-win for everyone.

"I knew you'd see it my way."

There was silence for a while, broken only by the steady hum of the lights. Bella must have been exhausted, because she actually did fall asleep, waking up just long enough for me to get some more pain meds into her. She needed to eat, but it would wait. I made a mental note to talk to Jake about what, exactly, he was doing to keep his wife up all night.

On second thought, maybe I'd just let her sleep. Ignorance is bliss. Flagging down Emmett, I had him move her to one of the guest rooms where she'd be more comfortable and went to check on Andy.

She was lying right where I'd left her, breathing shallowly and staring up at the ceiling. The acrid smell of vomit hung in the air, but the wastebasket was clean. So at some point she'd managed to stumble to the bathroom and take care of it.

Idiot.

"You know…" I perched on the edge of the bed and passed her a cup of ice. "…most people would realize that getting sick in a clinic means they get to stay in bed instead of risking passing out on the floor where no one can hear them."

"You can't burp in this house without somebody hearing you," she grumbled good-naturedly. "And for the record, I haven't moved from this spot since you left. Alice stopped by to check on me."

"Oh." Well then. Pulling the penlight out of my pocket, I pried open an eye and flicked a light in it. Andy gave me a raspberry for my trouble.

"I'm fine. It's this stupid stomach whatever. Billy had it last week. How's Bella?"

"She's fine. Sleeping. When you spend four quality years with proctors that make Aro look like a sweet little putty tat, then you can tell me what is and is not wrong with you." I was about 90% certain she was right, but it never hurt to be careful. Especially not with the freak factor that was always floating around this house. "All right. It's not a concussion. You don't have appendicitis. Any chance you're pregnant?"

Andy was ominously silent for a minute. Oh shit. I'd asked the question as a matter of course, not because I expected there to be a chance in hell she was going to say yes. Last time I talked to Bella, she was pretty sure Embry was still persona non grata at the Call house.

"Sweetie?" Frowning, I tucked the penlight back in my pocket. Time to stop playing doctor and actually be one. If she was pregnant there were any number of reasons she could be puking her guts up, from morning sickness on up. I needed answers, and I needed them now. "Whatever you tell me doesn't leave this room," I said as softly as possible, hoping the yelling I could hear from the backyard would give us a little bit of privacy, "but if there's a chance you're pregnant I need to know. That leaves a whole new pool of things I need to rule out before I'm willing to say this is just a virus and send you on your way."

"No." She gave a sad little scoff. "You have to have sex to be pregnant, remember? That hasn't happened in a while."

"How long is a while?"

"Since a couple of months before Embry moved out."

Thank you god.

"You know," I said conversationally, "I can completely understand being bummed out about a lack of sex. But it seems to me if you really wanted to get back at Embry, you'd just go downtown, pick up a guy and get it over with."

Her eyes snapped open, and what little color was left in her cheeks drained away.

"I…"

"You what?" More comfortable now that I wasn't going to have to play Mother Confessor, I scooted down to lean back against the giant oak footboard. This was the only room in the downstairs that still had a frame on the bed. Bella had broken so many toes Esme finally got rid of them all. "Seems to me like you'd be a lot happier if you'd just find someone else to do the wild thing with. Then you could either divorce that hunky husband of yours so he could get on with his life or call it even and put him out of his misery."

"Jesus, what are you, a doctor or a shrink?"

"I can multi-task."

She was getting pissed. Ah well. Between Bella and Jaz I was pretty up to date on what was going on in Forks. It was my considered opinion that it was long past time for someone to give that girl a kick in the ass. While she was sick as a dog probably wasn't the best time to do it, but at least she wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon.

Yes, Embry screwed up. Not by hooking up with the vampy succubus. That wasn't his fault. There wasn't a man between 10 and 100 that would have been able to walk away from that one, especially since she saw mating bonds as being about as permanent as a sugar cube in the rain. Give it just a few minutes under pressure and there would be nothing left.

Embry screwed up by not manning up and telling her (or anyone else) that something wasn't right before it was too late. She had a right to know what was going on. But she'd been making him pay for that screwup for the last two years. It was time to either let it go, or kick him to the curb once and for all. This limbo they were both hanging out in wasn't good for anyone.

"Look, I like you chickie. I really do. But unlike Bella and Jake, I have absolutely no driving motivation to stay on your good side. So I'm going to give it to you straight, then I'm going to get out of here so you can get some sleep."

Her eyebrows arched, and that cute little mouth of hers pursed up in annoyance. She'd grown into such a little human Barbie doll. Even the sloppy jeans and hoodie she'd pulled on to bring Bella over here this morning looked like they belonged on a fashion plate. Wonder if we could patent that. We could call it, "Barbie Does La Push."

Wow. Okay, that was NOT how I meant that to come out. That sounded more like a bad porn flick than a child's doll.

Jake was going to love it.

"Embry loves you." I held up a hand to cut her off when she started to speak. "Imprint or not, complete moron or not, Embry loves you. And at this point he'll do just about anything to have you back. Unless you're really going to blame him for getting mind fucked by an evil denizen of the night that's been seducing men into doing stupid things since the Dark Ages, you need to get the hell over it. Two years is plenty of time to sulk."

I could have gone on for a few more hours, but from the look on her face I figured I'd made my point. Scooting off the bed, I tucked her deeper into the thick blue comforter and made her eat some ice before flicking off the light. I was halfway out the door when a soft, quivery little voice from inside the room stopped me in my tracks.

"What if it wasn't her fault?"

Spinning around on one tiny little heel, I peeked back around the doorframe. Curled up in the darkened room, all but swallowed by the giant bed, she looked tiny-and heartbreakingly young.

"What are you talking about?"

"What if she didn't…I mean…" She stopped, sucking in a deep breath, then spilled the rest of her words out in a rush. "What if Embry was getting tired of me anyway? The way Bella wanted to get away from Jake and the kids? Right now he feels guilty, because of the whole imprint thing, but what if I take him back and he realizes she wasn't the reason he didn't want to be with me after all? I can't do that again, Max. I just can't."

The poor kid was so messed up. With a soft sigh, I walked over and gave her a hug. Tears soaked the shoulder of my shirt while she cried in my arms.

At least, I really hoped they were tears.

"Stop being an idiot," I said gruffly. "That man's stupid in love with you. Emphasis on stupid." That earned me a giggle. "He stuck around a lot longer than I would have after you gave him the boot. That says something, right?

"That he's an idiot?" Her voice was still quivery, but it was a lot more solid than it had been. Looked like the worst of the storm was past.

Wonder how long she'd been holding that in. It was a lot easier to get mad than admit that you're afraid. Nobody knew that one better than me.

"Exactly. So here's what you're going to do." Gently peeling back, I grabbed the box of tissues from the nightstand and passed them over to her. "Blow your nose, eat some more ice and go to sleep. I don't want you home alone right now, so you'll stay here. When you're feeling better, track down your husband, tell him what you just told me, and give him your list of demands in exchange for not selling his furry hide to the glue factory. Then you can live happily ever after and the rest of us can finally get some peace. Deal? "

She giggled, nodded and settled back on the pillow. If only every problem could be solved by the reminder that people were idiots. My life would be so much easier.

Unfortunately, easy wasn't on the horizon. I'd no sooner stepped out of the room than I ran smack-dab into Alice.

"Ouch! Okay, c'mon." Grumbling, I picked myself up off the floor. "What's up with the bulldozer in the house?"

She didn't even look at me, just pushed right past me in a flurry of black and white polka dots (seriously?) into the room I just left. Ignoring Andy's moan of complaint Alice flicked on the light, grabbed my suitcase and started emptying out my drawers.

"Alice, what's going on? Alice?" She didn't answer me, just continued zipping back and forth from my closet to the suitcase at superhuman speeds. Know those days when you realize that you really should have just stayed in bed?

Stepping back, I firmly planted both hands on either side of the doorframe and waited for her to finish spazzing out. She wouldn't _actually_ run me over, which meant she had to wait for me to move to finish kicking me out. Hopefully I'd be able to slow her down long enough to find out what was going on.

It worked. Sort of. In that, 'I was going to have bruises to show for it' kind of way.

"You have to go back to Seattle. Right now." Clicking the suitcase closed, she shoved it into my chest, then, pixie curls flying, the skirt on her 50's style sundress flipping, spun me around and marched me back toward the kitchen. Back to Seattle? I dug through my memory banks at lightning speed but couldn't come up with a) anything I had waiting in Seattle I'd have to get back to, or b) anything I would have done here that was bad enough for her to give me the boot.

Yes, I know. The Cullens were far too well-mannered to ever just throw me out. Which took this situation from strange and unusual into the realm of downright weird.

"Alice, what the hell is going on?"

"You have to go back to Seattle." Her eyes were wide and frantic, and not quite all there, the way they were when she had one of her visions. "You have to go. You have to go to Seattle, and you have to go now."

Okay. Obviously she knew something I didn't. Before I had a chance to grill her about it, however, Emmett came out of the kitchen holding the slim yellow cordless he and Rosalie kept in their room. His face was grim.

"It's for you."


	20. Max: Merry Bleeping Christmas

**December**

**Seattle**

**Max**

The smell of antiseptic hanging heavily over the quiet room should have been soothing. It wasn't. The monitor beeping in the corner of the room was all but drowned out by the rush of blood in my ears and the pounding of my heart as I tried to process the horror in front of me. The small, silent figure on the bed hadn't moved since I'd arrived nearly an hour before. Her eyes were both swelled shut, the dark contusions from a man's ham-handed fists standing in stark relief against skin that was ghostly pale. The unhealthy tinge of her skin was glaringly obvious against bruising radiating from her shattered nose. Her lips were cracked, front teeth stained red from where they had broken through the fragile skin.

Her breathing was shallow, marked with whimpers of pain from five broken ribs even the morphine streaking through her system couldn't save her from. Streaks of blood racing through her red curls led to a deep slice right behind her left ear. A box cutter, the attending physician had said. Swung in the heat of passion, the blade finding purchase in her sensitive skin.

I lightly traced the dark, ugly stitches with one trembling finger, swallowing back a bubbling volcano of fury. A woman was dead. Her daughter was beaten and bruised beyond recognition. Her son was curled up on the lap of the hapless social worker, her formerly prim black suit now wrinkled and tear soaked beyond repair by a little boy who couldn't understand that his mother was never going to come get him again.

"I should have ripped the blimey bastard's throat out when I had the chance."

Nick's growl sent chills down my spine. Not fear. Not of him, anyway. It was the chill of the dark, violent words finding purchase and echoing in a part of me that understood completely. Looking at the muscle ticking furiously in his cheek, the carefully leashed violence in his frenzied pacing from one side of the room to the other, I desperately wanted to be able to turn back time. To go back to the day when Nick had sat in the ER at Kara's bedside with Jeremy on his lap and ask him to arrange for an "accident" to take that spawn of Satan out of their lives before it was too late.

Hell, I wanted to grab a scalpel and do it myself.

It all started so innocently. It always did. Kara had been sent home from school early the day before because she didn't feel good. She'd been curled up on the couch, tired, cranky, feverish, when her father came home from work. Already deep in his cups, he'd lashed out at his daughter with the first thing he could get his hands on when she complained about him turning off her cartoons to watch the games. The box cutter came first, his fists following shortly after when she cried. Her mother had tried to get between them, beaten to death so the bastard could sit down in a chair, crack a beer and watch the game while his bleeding daughter hid behind the couch and wept.

No one knew, not until the daycare center sent an officer to find out why Mrs. Beckett hadn't shown up to pick up Jeremy. They'd found the woman in a broken, bloodied pile on the floor. They wouldn't have found Kara if it hadn't been for the trail of blood leading to her unconscious body.

Mr. Beckett was in custody. Mrs. Beckett was downstairs in the morgue. The horror of it all was enough to make me sick.

Kara had spent the night in the hospital. Jeremy had spent the night with a social worker. Neither of them knew where they were going to sleep next year, or the year after. Who was going to do Kara's hair for prom, or talk to Jeremy about the joys of sex, drugs and rock and roll when he got to be a teenager.

But for the next three months, they were going to be mine.

"I know you're a busy woman, Dr. Donovan," the harried social worker had said, jiggling a fussy Jeremy on her hip. "But you're the only person on our list of emergency foster parents that isn't already at their max, and quite frankly, these guys don't have anywhere else to go. We're working on a more permanent solution for them, but…"

She didn't have to say it. I knew that "but" all too well. Jeremy would be easy to place. Younger children always were. Kara was too old, the potential physical and psychological damage from her injuries was too severe. She was going to need weeks of round the clock care. Plastic surgery. Months of physical therapy. Not to mention plenty of quality time with a good psychologist to make sure she didn't grow up thinking the entire male half of the species was nothing but slime.

It was too much for most foster parents to handle. And anyone that _was _willing to take her on wasn't going to be willing to take Jeremy too. They'd end up separated. It would break Kara's heart to lose her mother and her brother all in one day, and thanks to the way the foster care system worked there was no way to guarantee she'd ever see him again.

Jeremy was only three. In time, his past would be nothing but flashes of memory he wasn't sure whether or not he should believe. He could forget his sister altogether.

I couldn't let that happen. Maybe it was my own past coming back to haunt me. Maybe it was just that I had been the one to take care of Kara up to this point, so it made sense to me to continue to do so until her life got straightened back out. Whatever it was, my need to act had driven me to stick a note on the door of the clinic, hop in my car and burn rubber all the way to Seattle.

Somewhere in the time I'd been treating her Kara had become more than a patient to me. Regardless of how temporary her time with me might be, I'd do whatever it took to keep her safe and happy for however long we had.

"Dr. Donovan?" The middle-aged social worker who'd been watching Jeremy hovered in the doorway. Her eyes were tired, with that hint of impatience you found in the chronically overscheduled, but the soft planes of her dark skinned face were apologetic when she said, "I'm afraid I need to get going."

Behind her, I could see Jeremy curled up on the chair staring blankly ahead, thumb tucked in his mouth for comfort while his little mind tried to process what had happened in the past 24 hours. Nick caught my eye. Slipping past the harried woman with softly spoken, "Ma'am", Nick crouched in front of the little boy. Jeremy's eyes widened in recognition, and after a few softly spoken words he slid down into Nick's lap.

The pair flipped through a picture book Nick had pulled out of the middle of nowhere, making me smile. That's right. Who was badass now?

A fondness for children seemed to be a Hale family trait, something that was going to make life a lot easier when I brought Jeremy home. They wouldn't be the first foster kids to camp out in my guest room, and the extra set of hands would be greatly appreciated. And you'd better believe I planned on putting those hands to good use.

Truthfully, between the fact that Nick looked like he'd rather yank out your vocal cords and fry them for breakfast than talk to you and Rosalie's, um, slightly less than congenial manners, their affection for the twelve and under crowd probably qualified as the eighth wonder of the world. I just hoped he didn't lean in for a nibble. I did NOT want to have to explain that one.

"As I stated on the phone, you've already been cleared to take Jeremy home with you," the social worker began, nervously tucking one wayward curl behind her ear. "He has a suitcase with him, as well as a duffle with various other items we found around the house that appeared to be well played with. Kara's belongings are in my office, you're welcome to come by and get those whenever it's convenient." Glancing at the still figure on the bed, her eyes took on a hazily sympathetic glow. "I assume it's going to be some time before she's able to leave, but there may be some things she's going to want when she comes to. In the meantime, I'd like to set up an appointment to see how Jeremy's settling in. Say, sometime next week?"

"Oh." Crap. Bureaucracy jumps up to bite me in the ass once again. With an atypical lack of forethought I'd jumped in feet first without considering the logistics of the situation. I had a guest room and an office that doubled as a second guest room in a pinch in my apartment. It would do for the short time they'd be staying with me. But I wasn't in my apartment, was I?

"I'm actually not at home right now. I'm filling in for a friend out in Forks until the beginning of February."

The social worker's lips pursed, a hint of panic flitting across her face as she saw her perfectly tailored solution unraveling right before her eyes. "I don't suppose you have your own living situation out in Forks, do you?"

"No, I'm staying with friends."

She dragged her hands over her face. "I'm afraid that's not going to be acceptable, Dr. Donovan. You know that. Families have to be carefully screened before children can be placed with them. And Kara's going to need someone closer than that while she finishes her hospital stay." She paused, her face filling with regret as her eyes flicked to the little girl on the bed, then the previously somber boy giggling in the hallway. "If you're not going to be able to be here for them, to offer them a more permanent situation, and to spend time with them during this difficult transition, perhaps it would be better if I placed them somewhere else."

A small burst of temper started bubbling up in my gut. If she had another option, she wouldn't have called me in the first place. It wasn't the first time I'd had new placements spend a couple of weeks or even months with me while social services got things straightened out, but my schedule usually made me their last choice rather than their first. It wasn't like I was staying with serial killers. There had to be a way I could finish out my commitment to Carlisle without dumping the kids back into the system.

Before that small bubble had the chance to turn into an argument we were both going to regret, however, I was interrupted by a smooth voice from the doorway.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but perhaps I could be of service."

'Well boy howdy, here comes the cavalry.'

Carlisle stepped into the room, his usually impeccable slacks and dress shirt wrinkled from a full day's wear. His eyes were tired, but his smile was warm, and as the muted afternoon sunlight filtering through the shades on the windows touched and glistened on his blonde hair I was so glad to see him I managed to forget I was mad at him for bailing and leaving me with Team Puke all morning.

Speaking of which…

"Not that I'm not happy to see you, Dr. C, but what are you doing here?"

"I was in Seattle when I got Emmett's call. Knowing you would have your hands full, I asked him to close the clinic for the day. He and Rosalie are more than capable of transferring any emergencies that come along. In the meantime," he shifted that smile of his over to the social worker, "I thought I'd stop by and see if there was anything I could do to help. I'm Dr. Carlisle Cullen."

The young woman seemed to be having trouble coming up with a response to that-or much of anything else, for that matter. With snarky amusement, I waited for a fly to come buzzing by and land in her gaping mouth. There was almost no chance she didn't know who she was talking to. The sainted Carlisle Cullen was all but legendary in certain circles.

Even if he'd been a complete stranger, however, I had no doubt her reaction would have been exactly the same. Dr. C just had that effect on people. I couldn't quite figure it out.

Well, okay, yeah I could. As one of Bella's geeky little high school friends had pointed out one time, Dr. C was hot. Really hot. Between the ethereal vampiric beauty that had taken his fair coloring and created a porcelain pallor set against smoked amber eyes, and the very excellent chest and shoulders that filled out his dress shirt and lab coat (there was something to be said for the hard manual labor that went with eking out a living in the 17th century), he would make any woman look twice.

But that wasn't what turned heads and hushed conversations when he walked in the room. It was only part of what made women stop and gape and slip him their room keys long before they knew, or cared, about his career, his marital status or the size of his bank account. It was that something _other_ that set him apart from the rest of the men in the room. Edward had claimed it was what Mother Nature used to make him the perfect predator. I didn't entirely disagree, but I didn't think it had anything to do with food. Or Edward, for that matter. After nearly four centuries of beating the odds, there was nothing that was going to take him down, and he knew it. That particular brand of confidence was extremely sexy.

I imagined women must have looked at conquering warriors much the same way back in his younger years, their champions, come to rescue them from whatever ridiculous scrape they'd managed to get themselves in this time. But while this son of a preacher man may have become a warrior over the years, I certainly wasn't a damsel in distress. I could handle this. So why was I so happy to see him?

"I'm afraid this is quite my fault." Carlisle's eyes were filled with self-flagellation. He did the look just a little too well. "You see, my partner is temporarily out of the country. Maxine had graciously offered to fill in some months ago. You've seen how the hospital is overflowing. Our clinic is the only healthcare facility for miles, which means on a good day I don't have a prayer of keeping up on my own."

"You can't get anyone else to fill in?"

Carlisle's eyes flicked up and met mine, just for a second, but that second was filled with perfect understanding.

"Given that the majority of our patients are from the reservation, they share certain genetic conditions which not many doctors are qualified to treat. Maxine is one of the few, and the only other one in the area besides myself, with any experience."

"Yeah, nothing says 'I'm there' like a patient load full of canis lupus and vampiraticus batticus."

Carlisle's lips twitched dangerously, but I'd spoken too softly for the social worker to hear. Or so I thought.

"Canis lupus and vamper…whatever the whosis? I don't think I've ever heard of those."

"Metabolic conditions," I filled in with the sweetest smile I could imagine. "Much more common throughout Europe. It's actually rather freakish that we see it here at all."

The social worker bobbed her head like a puppet on a string, as though she actually had a clue what I was talking about. I loved it. Dr. C frowned disapprovingly in my direction, but his eyes were dancing. I figured I wasn't in too much trouble. Yet.

"As you can see, I simply can't do without her right now. I suspect, however, that this strange twist of fate might actually be the answer to both of your problems."

This ought to be good.

"Oh?" The woman (I really needed to remember her name, but right then it was nothing but a gigantic blank spot in the dizzying daze this day had been) seemed to finally remember that she wasn't there to drool over cute doctors with tight abs and sexy stethoscopes. Pulling herself to her full height, which was a good ten inches shorter than Carlisle's own six foot three, she tried to look down her nose at him. It didn't work.

"Kara is going to need around the clock care and supervision for far longer than the hospital will be able to provide it for her," Carlisle said. "And while they mean well, the staff here is simply too overworked to provide Kara with the emotional support she's going to need if she's to move past this and have any sort of normal life."

"There are excellent psychologists…"

"With an endless plate full of patients," he finished for her, a kindly smile on his face. He looked like everyone's favorite uncle, drowning in sincerity and good cheer. His face practically screamed "Trust me, I'm the good guy!"

You couldn't trust him as far as you could kick him when he got that look. Since I liked where he was going with this, however, I figured I'd just keep my mouth shut and play along. Which at the moment just meant keeping my mouth shut.

Not really my strong suit. Twice in one day ought to earn me an award for good behavior. Wonder if they still had those chocolate croissants downstairs…

"Because the hospital is such a distance from Forks, we keep our clinic well stocked. A team of specialists rotates through on a regular basis, and I'm sure I don't have to tell you that both Dr. Donovan and myself, as well as my partner, Dr. Briscoe, are more than qualified to provide Kara with the medical care she needs. I can arrange to have her transferred into my care immediately, allowing her to leave this hospital and begin the adjustment process much earlier than she would otherwise.

"She and Jeremy would also be surrounded by a large, loving family that's willing and able to provide them with both the physical and emotional support they need during this difficult time. All of my children have, through their time spent with me and their chosen careers, obtained a reasonable of competency in the medical field. They're certainly as qualified as as any nurse working on this floor. My daughter Rosalie operates a day care center from the house that's certified to provide care for foster children, ensuring that neither Kara nor Jeremy will be either unsupervised or lacking for company from children their own age during clinic hours." His eyes darkened with sadness, just for a moment, before he continued. "And my wife, Esme, saw to it that our home was listed as a qualified safehouse for foster children prior to her passing. There should be no trouble from your superiors with regard to this temporary living arrangement."

Silver tongued bastard had all the bases covered, didn't he? I couldn't help feeling a quick, grudging shot of respect for how he'd just worked the social worker. And he _had_ worked her, just like a pro. She would come off as the villain of this piece if she didn't let the kids come with us now. There would undoubtedly be more paperwork later, but I could tell from the warm smile on her face that we'd won this round.

"I'm sure, given the circumstances, no one will have a problem with that. And as I'm very late, I'll work it out when I get to the office. The paperwork has already been drawn up to transfer guardianship of the Beckett children into Dr. Donovan's hands. I'll leave it to the two of you to do what needs to be done to get Kara out of here." Reaching down to pick up the briefcase I hadn't realized she brought in with her, she shifted it and held out a hand. "Thank you for taking the time to stop by, Dr. Cullen. I have to admit, I'd have been in a sticky spot if things hadn't worked out."

"I'm glad I could help."

Carlisle continued to smile at her as she ducked out into the hallway, then turned to me with an arched eyebrow.

"Maxine, I'm disappointed in you. You're usually better at digging yourself out of a tight spot than that."

"Hey, I was doing just fine. Wait. » I glowered as the pieces clicked into place. « How long were you standing there listening? »

« Long enough to realize you were going to dig yourself into a hole you wouldn't be able to get back out of if someone didn't come rescue you. » He reached out, flicking the end of my nose. « You really have to learn to get a grip on that temper. »

« I'd have gotten it worked out eventually, just not as quickly as you did by walking in here batting those baby blues." I waved my hand at his face when his amber eyes blinked owlishly at me. "Metaphorically speaking. I'm sure it's not every day Washington's most eligible bachelor comes in and offers to make all of her troubles go away."

Irritation-because really, it didn't matter how good looking or smooth talking Carlisle was, he was too irritating for my own good-had made my tongue sharper than I'd meant it to be. I hadn't meant to bring up his marital status. The last couple of weeks he'd seemed downright…I don't think happy would be the word, but less gloomy than he had been. He'd spent months wandering in a daze, not really seeing any of us. Lately he'd taken to scrutinizing us all like bugs under a microscope. Irritating (I did mention he was irritating, right?) but a vast improvement. I was very afraid the mention of Esme, however slight, would send him back into his funk, and I was really feeling like celebrating.

I nearly swallowed my non-existent tonsils when he just shrugged.

"When Emmett called and told me you were up here, he mentioned you staying with us might be a problem. I didn't want to be the cause of any hardship for you. I spoke to a colleague here, who filled me in on Kara's situation. I thought perhaps I could be of help."

"Don't think I'm not grateful, but why did Emmett call you? And what were you doing in Seattle anyway? You left me high and dry this morning." I suddenly remembered I had a bone to pick with him. "In that, I had Bella and Andy puking up their toenails while Bella tried to bleed to death kind of way. Someone is keeping an eye on those two, right?"

Geez. Some friend I was. Had I told Bella or Andy where I was going? Nope. Had I made sure someone would be there to help them out while I was gone? Nope. They'd both been sleeping comfortably when I left, and I'd assumed Carlisle would be there sooner or later, so I hadn't worried about it.

Showed what happened when you assumed. I really, really hated having to admit the tyrannical troll who lorded over Dartmouth's calculus department had been right about anything, but he'd been right about this. I really did feel like an ass.

"Rosalie said she'd check on them during the day, and Alice volunteered for the night shift. They'll hold down the fort until we get back. I believe Alice also volunteered to do some shopping this afternoon," he continued conversationally. "The small suite downstairs will be set up for you and the children when we get back."

"Ouch. Dr. C, you don't have to do that." I winced. I'd been so thrilled at the prospect of being able to bring Kara and Jeremy out to Forks with me that I hadn't really stopped to think about what it would mean for the Cullens. It would be two more mouths for Carlisle to feed, two more people running around cluttering up his house. Children weren't exactly known for being seen and not heard.

They were used to having the house to themselves when daycare hours were over. And the occasional overnight guest was a lot different than signing on the dotted for two troubled, frightened kids, one of which was going to have a number of special needs and wasn't exactly going to be easy in the coming months. "It's enough of an inconvenience to have them coming to stay. Hell, it's enough of an inconvenience for you all to have _me_ coming to stay. I probably should have asked earlier, but are you sure you want to do this?"

"You are _not_ an inconvenience, Maxine." There was enough venom in his voice when he said it to take me by surprise. On the bed, the little girl whimpered and squirmed. Carlisle's face was hard, the amiable expression from a few minutes before nowhere to be found in the hard ridges of his face and the firm press of his lips. When he spoke again, however, his voice was low, accompanied by a quick glance at the sleeping child, and tightly laced with control. "I consider you family, and as such you and yours are welcome in my house. It's my very great pleasure to do whatever it takes to make you comfortable. As a matter of fact, I'll be staying in Seattle until we're sure all of the T's have been crossed and the proverbial and literal I's dotted to secure their future."

Okay, this day was going from weird to weirder. First this morning's escapades, then Alice's frantic packing job, then Kara and Jeremy. Now Carlisle was flipping out over absolutely nothing. Wonder if he knew his speech got all formal when he was pissed? I'd happily go a couple of rounds to find out what was eating him later, but I just didn't have the energy to do it right now. I was mentally and physically drained. And if I was going to bring Kara and Jeremy back to his house, we definitely had some preparations that needed to be made. So I just swallowed my pride and said thank you.

He reached up, his hand hovering for a moment over my head, then with a soft sigh slipped back to lightly press on the tight muscles between my shoulders.

"You're very welcome," he murmured over my soft moan of pleasure. "Shall we go rescue Jeremy from Nick and see what we need to do to bring our girl home?"


	21. Bella: This Means War

**Chapter 21**

**December**

**Forks**

**Bella**

There was nothing quite like the bright, brilliant gleam of the sun on a canvas of snow to make me forget why I hated living in the Northwest each winter. It wasn't the first snow of the year, but it was definitely the most substantial. More importantly, it was the first actual packing snow we'd had all season, which in my little world could only mean one thing.

It was time.

"C'mon mommy, let's go!" Billy squirmed and wriggled impatiently under my hands as I tugged a comb through his stubborn curls. "You're just gonna put a hat on it anyway."

"The kid has a point."

"Don't encourage him." Jacob's warm laughter sent Billy running over to his father, who obligingly stuck the hat in question over his head. Unlike the little boy, who was so buried beneath his parka, hat and mittens you could hardly see his face, Jacob was casually dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt. If you'd caught sight of him without knowing what he was you'd have thought he was standing outside in the middle of September instead of getting ready to lead a merciless battle for supremacy between the wolves and the vampire nation.

"You know Bells, the kid is part wolf. You probably don't need to stick this many clothes on him."

Pushing myself to my feet, I shot my husband a disgruntled look. It wasn't the first time he'd not-so-subtly pointed out that the little boy was starting to display some decidedly wolfy traits, including the tendency to run a temperature. His hat and coat, and probably his shoes, knowing my luck, would be lying in the snow before the day was done (and his father would be showing off an impressive amount of chest muscle before it was all said and done-yum). But for now?

"Until he decides to start going furry I'll use my mommy senses instead of trusting your blind wolfy faith, thank you very much."

"Suit yourself." Looking down at our son, Jake grinned fiendishly. "All right champ, you ready for the opening volley?"

A loud war whoop filled the room, completely drowning out my groan.

"I get to play too?" The little boy was bouncing anxiously from foot to foot, tugging on Jacob's hands in relentless excitement.

"Jacob, no. Absolutely not."

The love of my life completely ignored me. "Hell…ah, heck yes, you get to play. You're on Team Wolf, right? Gotta get you used to creaming those no-good vampires now, so you'll be really, really good at it when you're big like me."

"Jacob." There was no mistaking the warning in my voice. Damn it, Billy was NOT old enough for this. He was NOT going to do an end run around me this time.

Squatting down, Jake propped his elbows on his knees and winked conspiratorially at our son. "Tell mommy to stop being such a party pooper."

"Stop being a party pooper mommy." Billy immediately buried his nose in his father's chest so he couldn't see my face. Smart kid. He knew between mom and dad wasn't a good place to be when this volcano shot sky high. Before I had the chance to explain the many, many reasons this was a really bad idea, however, there was a knock at the door.

"Hello?"

Andy poked her head in, beaming out from underneath her multi-colored hat. "Hey guys, are you…whoa!" She laughed, staggering back a couple of steps when Billy barreled into her full speed. "What's going on little man?"

"Daddy says I'm part of Team Wolf!" The little imp beamed up at her, eyes dancing with pleasure at being included. Andy looked up in amusement.

"Has Daddy broken this handy little piece of information to mommy yet?"

"He just did." Jake walked over, peeling Billy off of his aunt's legs and throwing him over his shoulder in a fireman's carry before bending down to plant a kiss on her cherry red nose. "Keep hanging around outside and I'm going to have to start calling you Mrs. Claus."

"Funny. I always forget how funny you are. Not." The smile Billy had brought to her lips slowly slipped away. "Speaking of missus, is Embry here?"

"He's upstairs. Why?"

Before Andy had a chance to answer, however, there was a quick shuffle, then feet hopping down the stairs.

"Hey guys, ready to…?" Voice trailing off, Embry took the final leap down the last six stairs and landed with a thud. Either he was the best actor I'd ever seen or he was getting a lot better at tuning out the noise from downstairs, because he looked shocked to see his wife standing in the middle of our living room. "Andy. Hey."

"Hey."

"Apparently, he's right here." Jake tried to smile, his eyes flicking anxiously between the two, but Andy wasn't paying any attention. She was staring back at her husband like he was a knight in shining armor and she wasn't entirely certain he was going to stick around to kill the dragon. I realized with a mixture of trepidation and relief that there wasn't an ounce of hostility anywhere in Andy's blue gaze. Uncertainty, sure. Nerves? Absolutely. But hostility?

The shadows hiding in there had been conspicuously purged. Now she just looked scared and fragile and almost heartbreakingly young as she stood there staring at the man she'd married. The man she'd rejected. Over and over again. This was the first time in almost two years she'd made any effort to see Embry, which meant she must have finally decided to do something about the game of limbo they'd been playing for way too long.

"So, Bells, time to go." Jake shifted Billy to his hip with an easy movement that I had to envy. The little stinkpot was getting too heavy for me these days. Then he held out his hand.

"What, right now?"

Okay, whether my curiosity was killing me or not, that was the _wrong _choice of words. Jake just groaned and closed his eyes. Andy and Embry cracked up, however. Nice to know my humiliation was just the ice breaker they needed.

"No, it's okay Bella. You can stay. You too, Jake." Andy tipped her chin up at her adopted brother, flushing prettily. "You guys have been caught in the middle of this whole mess. You deserve to hear this too." Sucking in a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and said, "I want a divorce."

Woah. Flinching, I looked over at Jake, then Embry. He was just staring at her, his face completely neutral, but there were storm clouds brewing in his eyes. Then he snapped.

"You may want one, but you're going to be waiting till hell freezes over for me to give you one," he snarled. With his lips curled and his teeth showing he looked more feral now than he did when he decided to go furry.

"Yeah? Why?" Her words were soft, but there was a low tremble under the bravado in Andy's voice that caught my ear. She didn't sound angry, just resigned. Shoulders slumping, she looked down and awkwardly scuffed the carpet with her toe. "You can't possibly want to stay married to me. You didn't really want to marry me in the first place. You just had to because of this stupid imprinting stuff." Her eyes were shining with unshed tears when she looked back up. "Well, here you go. You're free to go do whatever it is you want to do, with whoever you want to do it with. I'm not going to try and stop you."

"Damn it." Pushing away from the stairs Embry caught his wife's hands, lifted them to his lips, then dropped to his knees at her feet. My own heart swelled at the lack of pride in the gesture. Andy just stared at him, tears still brimming, but eyes curiously blank. "You stupid idiot. It's always been you. Don't you get that? Imprint or no imprint, it doesn't matter. It's always been you. It'll always be you."

"What about her? It hasn't always been me, Embry." The first tear spilled over her cheek as she lowered her head to press her forehead against his. She didn't have to bend down very far. Even on his knees, Embry's head reached her shoulders. "I can't forget about that. I can't stop wondering if she really did brainwash you, or if you were already tired of me. I don't want to stay married and find out next year, or the year after that, that even with her gone you still don't want me anymore." Lifting her head, she gently cupped Embry's face in her hands, thumbs stroking softly along his cheekbones. "I love you, so much it scares me sometimes. You nearly broke me this time. I can't do this again. I just…I can't. I won't be your mistake, Em. And if I have to end this now to make sure that doesn't happen, I will."

"You still love me?" The befuddled wonder in Embry's eyes was gut wrenching. "Even after all of this?"

"Well, duh." Andy rolled her eyes, looking much more like the Andy I was used to seeing that the quiet, broken creature that had walked through the door. "If I didn't love you I'd have divorced your furry butt two years ago and been done with it."

"Jake?" Embry slowly rose to his feet, eyes still locked on his wife. His hands were trembling when he let go of her fingers. "Do me a favor?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Go on without me."

Jake's jaw dropped. "Dude, you can't be serious. We've been waiting for this all year. We _need_ you."

"No you don't. You guys'll be fine without me." Threading his fingers through her hair, Embry stared at the finely spun gold spilling out from under Andy's hat like he'd never seen it before. "But I need her."

"Right. We were just leaving. Right, Jacob?" Staring pointedly at my gobsmacked husband, who was struggling to choke back the stream of abuse I knew he was dying to dump on Embry's head for defecting, I scooped up Jenny's car seat and headed for the door. "You guys take as long as you need."

"Thanks Bella." Embry gave me a brilliant, if slightly shaky, smile. "I owe you one."

"And don't think I'm not going to collect." A small smile of satisfaction tugged at the corners of my lips. They still weren't quite sure of each other, but it was nice to see those two getting back on the right track. "Hey, wolf boy! Move your ass or I'm gonna call Rachel and have her tell Paul you already ate."

"You wouldn't." Jake's voice was appalled.

"Speed dial 5, sweetcheeks," I said, pulling the phone out of my pocket and wiggling it in the air. "What's it going to be?"

Torn, Jake's head moved between me and the couple in the middle of the room, who were too wrapped up in each other to pay a lick of attention to what was going on over here.

"Ah, he wouldn't be any good right now anyway."

With that final pronouncement Jake grabbed Jenny out of my hands and walked out the door. Stepping out behind him, I looked back one more time. Embry had his face buried in Andy's hat now, and her hands were clutching firmly onto the front of his shirt. Both of them had tears streaming down their faces.

I was dying to see how this was going to work out, but I could get the info from Andy later. For the moment, it looked like immediate disaster had been averted. And we had a war to win.

We were greeted by a solid 'thunk' on the window when we pulled into the Cullens' front lawn. Jake was out the door like a shot, dragging Billy with him. All I could do was laugh. Looked like the opening volley had been thrown without him. Imagine that.

You'd think a group of vampires well into their second century of living and a pack of wolves all well into adulthood would be too old for a snowball fight. You'd be wrong. Every December there was an all-out free-for-all between the Cullens and the wolves for unquestioned bragging rights for the next 12 months. Positive proof that you were never too old to act like an overgrown child.

Looked like Emmett and Jasper had been bored waiting for everyone to get there. Opposing forts had already been built out of blocks of ice and snow on either side of the side yard, stretching almost to the top of the house. Jake and Billy were nowhere to be seen; however, since the humans were formally uninvited to the battle (for obvious reasons; I could get plenty of bruises and broken bones all by myself, thank you very much, and snow hurt when it came flying at vampire speed) Jenny and I cheerfully headed for the group bundled around the bonfire burning merrily in the middle of the driveway.

"Oh, thank god." Emily laughed as she pulled me into a hug. "Maybe Jake can calm them down a little. They're insane this year."

"Yeah, I wouldn't count on it. Jake was out the door before the truck stopped moving when we pulled in."

As soon as she let me go Emily bent down to scoop Jenny out of her carrier. Looking around at the rest of our motley crew, I had to grin. Sue Clearwater, Kim and Rachel were arguing cheerfully while they roasted a steadily growing pile of hot dogs. Looked like the womenfolk had copped KP again. No surprise there, and it was good to see the other "wolf girls" smiling again.

"Your dad took one look at the pile of food we put together and volunteered to haul wood up from the woodshed," said Emily, following my gaze. "I can't say I blame him. I was up most of the night making enough pasta salad to feed a small country."

"You'd think we never feed them, the way they eat when we're all together. What's Charlie doing here? I thought he had to work."

"I do. Later." Charlie's gruff voice in my ear made me jump. Laughing, I spun around and threw my arms around him. "Hey kiddo." His voice was warm, and if the hands patting my back were just a little bit awkward, well, that was just Charlie.

"Hey Dad. Welcome to Bedlam." Scrunching my eyebrows together, I tried to remember. "Were you here for this last year?"

"No, although I did have to field complaints from the neighbors."

"What neighbors? The Cullens don't have any neighbors for miles."

"I know," he said dryly, placing a kiss on my head and stepping back. "That made it a lot harder to come up with a plausible excuse."

"And we're very grateful to you for doing so." Carlisle walked over, a warm smile on his face, cookie crumbs scattered down the front of his usually impeccable jacket from the well-bundled toddler on his hip. "Hello Bella. I was starting to wonder if you were going to make it."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Pulling Carlisle in for a hug, I breathed in the scent of his laundry soap mixed with the familiar smell of baby shampoo. It was so good to have all of my family together in one place. After all the years that the pack had butted heads with the Cullens, I'd never take moments like this for granted. "Hey Jeremy," I said to the little boy. "Where's Max?"

"Inside with Kara. This little guy," he bounced Jeremy, making him giggle cheerfully, "had had quite enough of being in the house, so I volunteered to bring him out for a bit."

"Aren't you going to miss the snowball fight?"

Carlisle rolled his eyes, looking so paternally disapproving that I had to laugh-until I noticed the glint in his eye. "The opening volley was launched in the wee hours of the morning. What you're seeing now is actually round three. Or perhaps it was round four."

"Carlisle stuffed Sam headfirst into a snow bank when he tried to rush the line," said Emily with inhuman glee. "You should have seen it Bella, it was glorious."

"Yes, well." Carlisle cleared his throat uncomfortably, but he was smiling. I had to laugh. It was always so funny to see moments when Carlisle crawled out of his parental shell. The oh-so-proper Dr. Cullen wasn't so proper after all.

"Come here little man." Sue popped up beside me, holding her arms out for the little boy. He obligingly made the jump. Good grief.

"Well, that one certainly isn't shy." Grinning, I reached over and pinched one of Jeremy's cheeks. It had only been a week since Max had dropped the bombshell that she was bringing the kids to the Cullen house, but they seemed to be settling right in. "How is life with the constant pitter patter of little feet?"

"He's pulled all of the books off the bookshelves, nearly toppled Jasper's sword collection, shattered an entire carton of eggs and used the Nesquick Rosalie keeps in the pantry to create a sandbox in the middle of the kitchen. And that was just yesterday." Carlisle rolled his eyes, but his smile was soft and warm when he reached out to scrub his hands across the top of the little boy's head. "It's been delightful."

"A wee bit different than a house full of teenagers, isn't it?" Sue laughed sympathetically. "There are times I miss those days. Then I borrow Billy for the weekend and remember why I was thrilled the day they started school. How's Kara doing?"

"She's improving, a little bit at a time." A shadow passed across Carlisle's face, sending chills down my spine. "She's wasn't up for the day's festivities, so Max has her settled on the couch. I believe they were planning a movie marathon this afternoon. The poor child will start crawling the walls soon enough."

"When was the last time Max got out of the house?" asked Sue with an arched eyebrow. When Carlisle just stared at her blankly she sighed. "Just like my Harry. You're lucky Max isn't the one crawling the walls by now." Looking down at Jeremy, she grinned. "What do you think, little man? Want to go visit your sister and give Max a break?" When Jeremy's lip started to pout at the thought of having to go back inside, Sue leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, "I know where Rosalie hid the markers."

A second later the two of them were bound for the house, Jeremy jabbering away a mile a minute about what he was going to do once he got his hands on his beloved ColorWonders. Carlisle watched them go, a slightly mournful look on his face.

"They're traitors, Dr. Cullen. The whole lot of them." Charlie slapped Carlisle on the shoulder with a grin. "I'll never forget the time I took Bella over to Billy's. Clung to me like a burr until Jake's mom pulled a box of Barbies off the top shelf. I had to drag her kicking and screaming out the door at the end of the day."

"Children are resilient. It's something to be grateful for." Carlisle's eyes shifted over my shoulder, his smile growing wider. Max was flying down the stairs, coat half zipped, her hat hanging off her head at some bizarre angle. Hitting the bottom, she threw her arms out and spun around like Julie Andrews in "The Sound of Music." Only in this case it was more like the hills were alive with the sound of snowballs and harsh masculine grunts.

"Hallelujah! Fresh air!" Laughing, she came over and pulled me into a tight hug. "Hey Bells! Sorry. I saw you come in, but Kara's hitting that cranky phase where she's bored out of her mind. I didn't dare leave her alone. I owe Sue a big one for this."

"Don't worry about it. She and Charlie are loving having another set of grandkids around to spoil. Don't say it!" I said when she opened her mouth to argue. "You've been my best friend for what, like, nine years now? At this point, you're family. She's been foaming at the mouth all week to get out here and get her hands on those kids. Charlie had to practically sit on her to give you time to get settled in."

"Well, she was welcome. Anytime. Seriously. I forgot how much work entertaining a bored pair of kids could be. So!" Max rubbed her hands together with glee. "I've only got about a half an hour before Sue starts screaming for mercy. Who's up for sledding?" She looked hopefully from me to Charlie, then over at the group around the fire.

"Not a chance!" laughed Kim, who was obviously paying more attention than I thought she was. "If these aren't done by the time they get done over there, they're going to start looking for something else to chew on."

"Like you'd mind," snorted Rachel, giggling when Kim gave her a shove. The two got into a quick tussle by the fire. Max grinned, turning back around.

"Emily? Bella?"

"No thanks. At least two of those giant appetites are mine. If Emily doesn't mind keeping an eye on Jenny for a while, I think I'll go give them a hand with hot dog production."

Emily opened her mouth, but Charlie hopped in first.

"Actually, I think I'm ready to thaw out for a bit. Why don't I take her and join Sue inside? That way she'll have an extra set of hands. Max, take your time coming back in. I mean it," he said sternly. Before anyone could argue he'd reached out, plucked Jenny out of Emily's arms and headed for the house.

"Well." Max watched him go, her face a study in baffled amusement. "Not that I'm going to complain, but does he know what he's getting into?"

"He survived my childhood. I think he'll manage whatever those three can dish out for a while." Then inspiration struck. "Hey, you should grab Carlisle and go hit the slopes. I'll bet he doesn't remember the last time he was on a sled."

"Good idea. Dr. C?" Brow raised in challenge, Max turned to look at Carlisle. Pulling a pair of gloves out of his pocket (did wet clothes bother vampires too?) Carlisle tugged them on.

"Actually, I recall my last sledding experience very well. It was the first snowfall of the year, and my cousins and I headed to the hills just outside of London." Looking up, he smiled wickedly. "In 1664."

"Which means you're about 335 years overdue," announced Max decisively. She disappeared around the house. When she reappeared her coat had been zipped, a purple pair of glittery gloves that matched the ridiculous hat on top of her hair covered her hands, and she was carrying the gliders Rosalie kept for the kids when the snow was heavy. "Time to put your money where your mouth is, Dr. C."

"I believe it was _your_ mouth that came up with this, not mine." Reaching out, Carlisle caught one of the gliders and spun it in his hands.

"Potato, potahto. Put your money where my mouth is then." Max caught his hand and headed for the unoccupied hill that marked the edge of the Cullen's property. The one that _wasn't _in the middle of the war zone. Beside me, Emily laughed and shook her head.

"I wonder if he has a clue," she said in amusement, watching the pair walk away.

"A clue about what?"

"That he's falling for her."

It took a second for her words to sink in, but as soon as they did I choked on thin air. "Carlisle? And Max? Are you kidding me?" The slightly pitying look on Emily's face said she wasn't. "He's still not anything resembling over Esme. And even if he was… They're night and day. Jesus Emily, even if he was interested, they'd kill each other in a week!"

"Maybe. Maybe not. But it's all over his face when he looks at her." Shrugging, she stared after them, a thoughtful look pursing her pretty face. "Truthfully, I think she'd be good for him." She turned her head and laughed. "You should see your face. Come on Bella. I know you still think of him as Edward's father, but it's not a huge stretch of the imagination to see him as a very attractive, very _single_ man."

"Yes but…he's always been like a dad to her." Bewildered, I looked over at the hill, where the unlikely pair was cheerfully flying down.

"Ah, but he's not her father, is he?" Emily's voice was firm now, firm enough to catch my attention. "She's been good for him. Everyone…Well, all of us have something we need him to be, don't we? His coven needed an alpha to guide them. Someone to help them stay alive, fly under the radar. Esme needed a rescuer, a broad pair of shoulders able to carry her burdens as well as his own, and someone to take care of her the way a man did a woman in those days. The younger Cullens, and you, needed a father figure. And the pack needs a doctor and a coven leader able to do what needs to be done. No one ever needs Carlisle.

"Max…well." Emily laughed. "Max doesn't need a provider, a father or a leader. And whether she needs a role model or not, she certainly doesn't see him as one. She's probably the only person in his life that doesn't need him to be anything other than exactly who he is when you take all that responsibility off his shoulders. He needed that."

Giving my shoulder a quick squeeze, Emily turned and walked back toward the fire. Looking back toward the hill, I laughed when Max tipped her sled to run into the man sliding down the hill next to her. The two rolled in a laughing tangle of limbs before Max landed underneath Carlisle's dark frame. I could see Carlisle's lips moving, but I couldn't hear the words, or what Max answered back. Whatever it was, it made him laugh, scoop up a handful of snow and scrub it affectionately over her face.

Where I'd missed her words before, her shriek was impossible to miss-even over the bedlam coming from the yard as the wolves decided they'd had enough of hiding and charged the Cullen fort en masse. Shaking my head, I turned back toward the fire. If the fight had degenerated this far, it wouldn't be long before they called a temporary draw and came looking for food. There'd be hell to pay if it wasn't ready to go.

Before I got there, however, something caught my eye. There was an unfamiliar black sedan driving down the driveway. The sound of the engine snagged the attention of the combatants on the field, freezing them in place like pawns on a chess board as the vehicle slid to a stop just a few feet from where I was standing. The driver stepped out and walked around to open the back door. I didn't know him, but I knew the clean-shaven face of the dark suited man that stepped out of the back seat all too well.

"Senator. Long time no see."


	22. Carlisle: Almost There

**December**

**Forks**

**Carlisle**

Fingers traced lightly over the bridge of her nose and down her cheeks, dipping into the soft collar of her parka of their own accord. Uncovering pale skin, stained pink from the icy flakes, before brushing over rosy lips trembling with cold and repressed laughter.

"That wasn't nice," those lips murmured beneath my touch, caressing supple leather with each word. The heat from her breath soaked through the gloves the same way the heat from her skin pressed against my legs and chest, making it impossible to ignore the lean, trim and all too female form stretched out beneath me.

When I'd rolled her into this tiny drift my intentions had been, if not pure, at least mostly honorable. Misfired ammunition from the battle raging on had come rocketing past our heads. I'd tucked her beneath me to keep that lovely skull in one piece, but now that the danger had passed I was having a hard time finding the motivation to let her go. Half buried in the icy muck, legs and hips snugly intertwined so that each breath brought us closer together, I struggled to remember that she was practically a married woman-and that watching eyes and wagging tongues were quite literally only a stone's throw away.

"Dr. C?" Her voice was soft, and very far away. "You can let me up now."

There was an answer there somewhere. There was. But even though the slow ache spreading through parts of me that I had thought dead and gone was rapidly becoming all too familiar,it was still sharp enough to wipe my mind clean.

Three hundred years of study in fourteen languages and I couldn't even master my mother tongue. I felt like I was fourteen again, tripping over my own feet the first time I caught the milkmaid flashing a bit of cleavage my way. I couldn't say it was a sensation I'd particularly missed.

When I didn't answer, she tried again, tipping her head so she could see into my eyes. "Carlisle?"

The unfamiliar sound of my name from her mouth splintered any chance I had of walking away from this with honor and pride unscathed. Damn it. I'd tried. I really had.

There were just too many. Too many days filled with her laughter. Too many mornings watching her with the children, both hers and mine, their sweet banter a poignant reminder of everything I'd lost to this new life. Too many moments when our eyes would meet in perfect understanding. Too many nights…

Too many nights.

The nights since her arrival in Forks were the worst. Dark hours spent prowling my silent office while her scent lingered on the air, teasing me. Taunting me with false promises filled with the pleasure that would be mine, if only for a night, if I'd just give in to my own need and go to her.

My own much-lauded control was bruised and battered and stretched well past its breaking point. At that moment the entire Volturi army could have descended on Forks and I wouldn't have cared, as long as I could stay here for just a few minutes longer. The first days as a vampire are overwhelming, leaving you feeling as if you've spent your entire life blind and deaf before being gifted by the light. The wide-eyed wonder I'd found then was nothing compared to the thrill that coursed through my veins with this woman, in this moment, sprawled on a blanket of snow.

Bespelled by my own fantasies my lips slowly lowered toward hers, waiting for her to scream, to push me away, catching her soft huff of air as her hands clenched the lapels of my coat, her eyes closed and her chin lifted toward mine instead. Deliberately ignoring the small, niggling voice in the back of my mind that reminded me this was a terrible idea (but couldn't seem to remember why) I gently pulled her closer and, eyes drifting shut, lowered my mouth to hers.

"Carlisle!"

Emmett's voice snapped through the haze I had been floating in more effectively than a cold shower. Mortified by what I'd nearly done, in front of all of our family and friends, no less, I pulled Maxine up with me until we were both standing knee-deep in the thick white drifts. I could only hope they'd been too wrapped up in their game to pay attention.

Briskly chafing her arms to get her circulation moving and warm up her very wet skin, I asked softly, "Are you all right?"

The husky timber of my own voice was as foreign to my ears as her dazed assent. Tugging her hat back over her ears, I looked wistfully at her mouth one last time. The sharp curl of longing reminded me of how close weeks of fantasies had come to becoming reality, a lingering ache that tempted me to throw her over my shoulder, carry her to the house and finish what we'd started. Another moment, and I'd have given in to the merciless need to claim this woman, this one unlikely, unexpected, completely baffling woman, for my own.

It was just as well, I reminded myself grimly as we scooped up the sleds and headed down the slope to greet our unexpected guests. She was promised to someone else. The press of her lips to mine would have broken me. Had I felt the touch of her skin, heard the whisper of confession in her sweet words that this madness wasn't mine alone, I would have fallen to my knees and offered her everything.

All that I was. All that I had. All for the chance to have her in my arms again. And she would have had to find a way to politely throw it back in my face, because it was the one thing I had no right to ask.

It didn't matter. Grabbing the tail end of these fruitless yearnings and stuffing them back inside, I reminded myself it didn't matter. The point was moot, and there were other things to deal with now. Like the dark suited man standing in my driveway, watching with stern disapproval as we walked down the hill arm in arm.

The warm, vibrant young woman who had laughingly tumbled me into the snow was nowhere to be found in the polite, cool façade of the woman currently standing next to me. Those tempting lips were curled into a frozen smile, and while her expression was pleasant enough, had I been human my skin would have born bruises from her tense fingers.

"Maxine."

"Hello Dad."

The cool eyed man stared at us for a second longer, then grinned. Jogging around the hood of the car he wrapped his arms around his daughter. She reached up, lightly squeezing him back, but clung to my arm like a burr when I tried to step back and give them some space.

"It's so good to see you again sweetheart," he said when they broke apart, stepping back to study her face. "I've missed you. You look tired. Are you sleeping?"

"I'm fine. Really," she insisted when he arched one skeptical eyebrow. With a sigh, she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here? Where's mom?"

"Oh, I'm right here." The cheerful voice belonged to designer boots, blue jeans and a trim green parka, topped by a head of perfectly coiffed blonde hair. I couldn't help the warm grin that split my face when she bustled over and pulled Max into a hug so tight it made her squeak. Jeanni Donovan was the type of woman who demanded smiles. "When we got your message, and discovered you were going to be in Forks for Christmas-and with my two adorable temporary grandchildren in tow-well, we just couldn't wait another second."

"She means she couldn't wait another second," the man confided wryly, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his perfectly tailored pants. "I wanted to act like a sane person and call first, but she insisted. I hope you don't mind." Pulling his right hand back out of his pocket he stretched it out with practiced afterthought and a politician's casual grin. "I'm sorry Dr. Cullen, you probably don't remember me. Hank Donovan."

"Of course." I gave his hand a quick, perfunctory squeeze. "It's good to see you again, Senator Donovan. It's been, what, five years? Ten?"

"Something like that, yes."

Glancing back at Max, I smiled. Mrs. Donovan had traded Max for Bella, nearly scooping the child off of her feet. Max was dancing around them like a crazed purple leprechaun trying to convince her to let go, and Bella was laughing so hard there were tears streaming down her cheeks. "I believe they're going to be occupied for a while. Can I help you with your luggage?"

"Oh no." Hank held his hands up, a look of chagrin on his face that would have been comical if it wasn't so obviously calculated. I couldn't help the soft sigh of impatience. I'd met Senator Donovan and his wife when Bella and Max were rooming together, and liked them both, but it would be nice if the Senator would snap out of what Max had often referred to as his "politician mode" every once in a while. There was no one here he had to impress.

"I do have better manners than that, Dr. Cullen. It's one thing to show up on your doorstep unannounced. It's quite another to expect you to put us up. No, we've got a room up in Port Angeles. We'll head back there and get settled in after we spend a little time with Max and the kids. Besides," he nodded toward the crowd in the front yard, "looks like you've got a house full as it is."

A few muttered profanities caught my attention, too low for a human ear to hear, and I couldn't resist a quick grin. It wouldn't be the first time the pack and their families had taken up residence here for one reason or another, but I was well aware that most of them wouldn't do so voluntarily. If sharing a house with a bunch of vampires wasn't enough to keep them away, their own short tempers when closeted together usually did the trick.

"This is an…annual midwinter celebration of sorts." It seemed like the best way to explain that afternoon's shenanigans. "With the exception of my family everyone lives on the reservation, and will be returning to their own beds at the end of the night. So as you can see, we have plenty of room."

Senator Donovan hesitated, looking around. That small flicker of impatience raised its head again, a little sharper this time. The man had flown all the way out here from Washington, D.C. to see his daughter. The daughter I knew he saw, at most, a handful of times each year. Accepting a freely given invitation to stay with her instead of an hour away couldn't take that much thought.

And I was anxious to get started doing something, anything, that would take my mind off of what would have happened if he hadn't pulled up when he did.

"If you're sure," he said finally, "we'd be happy to. I know my wife will be glad to spend the extra time with the girls."

"Well then, shall we?"

A quick flick of the hand and Sam and Jake quickly jogged over to help. A look at the contents of the trunk made me very, very glad they were here. The abundant storage space was packed full of bags in all shapes and sizes. Even with vampire strength it would have taken four or five trips to get it all inside.

"Wow," whistled Jake with his usual tact. "You guys planning on moving in?"

Sam reached up and smacked him in the back of the head, sending him stumbling forward a few steps. It was a testament to how far Jacob had come from the angry boy I'd patched up all those years ago that the encounter didn't end with the two of them rolling in the snow trying to tear out each other's throats.

'Age and responsibility,' I thought with no small amount of irony as I stepped forward to take a pair of bags. 'Sooner or later, they make men out of us all.'

"My wife's luggage, I'm afraid," the senator said, handing a large, bulky suitcase to the driver before hefting a pair himself. "She refuses to travel without enough luggage to keep her clothed and made up for a month."

A sharp pang pricked me at his words, combining heady recklessness and nostalgia into a nauseating mix. Esme had been the same way, a legacy she'd left behind in both of our daughters. I'd never been able to figure out why she'd needed six bags for a single weekend away, but she'd insisted she needed every bit of it. After a couple of decades I'd learned that was just the way she was.

I'd had every intention of making sure our guests and their driver were settled in before tackling an already daunting to-do list that had just grown exponentially longer, but as luck would have it the phone was ringing when I stepped in the front door. Police dispatch, calling Charlie and I to the scene of an accident just outside of Forks. By the time I finished taking down the details Rosalie had appeared to take charge of our guests, and five minutes later Charlie and I were walking back out.

Winter was always filled with drivers who didn't take the snow seriously. This time it was a pair of tourists up from California, driving too fast and taking a one way trip over a guardrail for their trouble. The driver was going to be fine, but the passenger had taken a nasty knock to the head and chest and proved difficult to stabilize. I wound up flying to the hospital with the medical team (man's ability to fly was an experience I was fairly certain I would never take for granted) and it was well after dark before I stepped foot back through my own doorway.

Tense, tired and more than a little irritated at the carelessness that had interrupted the day's festivities, I wanted nothing more than a few hours alone in my office before tackling the paperwork the day had left behind. Wrapped up in my own dark thoughts, I didn't notice that the lights in the small room were already on. And I almost walked right past the man sitting quietly in the chair in front of my desk.

"Interesting place you have here, Dr. Cullen." Senator Donovan looked up from the open book on his lap to study me appraisingly. "I hope you don't mind that I waited for you here, but I have a message for you from a mutual friend that requested I see to it personally."

"Oh?" There was no one in D.C. with whom I had more than a passing acquaintance at this point in time, so I gave his words little regard. A casual acquaintance or a colleague taking advantage of a rare opportunity to reach me in person, no doubt. I'd take the message, then politely usher the man out. Then he passed me the innocuous, cream colored envelope. My stomach sank to my toes, the pieces in my mind slowly clicking into place at the sight of my name in Aro's familiar calligraphic scrawl..


	23. Max: When the Past Still Bites

**Two Days Before Christmas**

**Forks**

**Max**

There was an endless stream of feminine chatter buzzing in the background I was doing my best to tune out while I scrubbed baby shampoo through Jeremy's soft baby curls. The bright yellow bathroom decked out with yellow duckies in all shapes and sizes that Alice had decorated for the kids was chipper and cheerful. My dark (and slightly homicidal) thoughts were anything but. Bella, Alice, Rosalie and my darling traitor of a mother were in the bedroom happily chatting about…want to guess? Going shopping for my wedding dress.

A wedding dress. Dodging a flyaway bubble, I winced. It didn't matter how many times I told them Jack and I were in no hurry to actually tie the knot, they still insisted we had to go shopping. Right now. No questions, no comments, no concerns. After all, how often was I going to have almost everyone together and available to make the trip? The only one missing was Jaz, who had sent a text from whatever hot Caribbean beach she was on to go for it, she'd see it when she got back.

Go figure. Of course my mom was leading the charge, spurred on by her genuine love of shopping and a passive-aggressive need to wreak her evil revenge for being left in the dark about my engagement. I was going to tell her. I really was. But I was trying to avoid moments like this, in which she developed the fanatic need to burn up her credit cards making plans before we'd even set the date.

I guess I should just be happy it wasn't worse. She'd handled the fact that I hadn't picked up the phone and called her three seconds after Jack had popped the question with a lot more aplomb than I'd expected her to.

"My baby's getting married," she'd sniffed, actual, honest-to-god tears streaming down her face. "I didn't think this day was ever going to come."

"Jeez mom, you make it sound like I'm some kind of unmarriageable freak." I winced at the arms that locked like a vise around my ribs. "I'm a fairly attractive woman of reproductive age with a decent income and some notoriety in certain circles. There are some men who actually find me desirable."

"Ah, but this is the first time you've ever gotten engaged to one of them," she pointed out. I figured I'd leave her out of the loop about the president's nephew who'd given me a daisy chain when we were twelve. He'd kissed me in the china room and asked me to marry him. Then he kissed me again and told all his nasty little friends all about it.

He'd had a black eye for a week, and the engagement was off. It had to be some kind of record.

"That's because this is the first one that's been able to keep up with her," Alice pointed out. "Every other man she knows is so much dumber than she is, she scares him off in the first five minutes."

"And the ones she didn't scare off with that brain of hers went running in terror the first time the respected Dr. Donovan broke out that awesome black leather miniskirt," added Bella. "You know, the one with the dog collar?"

"Hey, that only happened once!" Or twice. Or maybe three times.

Didn't matter. The point was, most of the guys at the hospital were scared off when I busted out the S&M and ensembles I liked to wear on the weekends, and the ones who liked their girls in black leather couldn't carry on a conversation for more than five minutes about literature, or history, or medicine, or anything that didn't revolve around their Harley and the kind of emo poetry that always made me cringe.

Jaz kept telling me I was just hanging out with the wrong crowd. I hadn't believed her until I met Jack. Now it looked like I was going shopping for a wedding dress tomorrow, whether I wanted to or not.

Assuming I'd dried out by then.

I looked ruefully down at the front of my soaking wet shirt, then up at the giggling toddler in the bathtub.

"Wet!" crowed Jeremy, pointing triumphantly at the victory from his last wild tidal wave. Little stinkpot.

"She certainly is."

The unexpected male voice, dripping with amusement, made me jump. Which, naturally, resulted in me dropping the cup in my hand and sending a spray of water straight up my nose.

"Thanks Cullen," I grumbled, groping blindly for a towel, gratefully accepting the one that magically appeared in my hand. "Because I really needed someone to come along and make a bad situation worse."

Figures. Carlisle had avoided me like the plague for the three days since my parents had showed up, spending the handful of hours a day he wasn't diligently giving to his patients closeted in his office with Jake and Sam talking about who knows what. Leave it to him to show up at the exact moment I was kneeling on the bathroom floor, in my grubbiest grubbies, trying to de-peanut butter the slippery, squirming, naked body in the tub.

He, of course, looked like he'd just stepped off the pages of GQ. Glaring up at him, my scowl deepened when I met his amused eyes and a quick spark of…something…flew between us. The same way it had in the kitchen the day I told him I was getting married, and the day in the snow when I could have sworn, for one heady, breathless moment, he was going to kiss me.

Right. Carlisle had been father, friend, colleague and confidante over the years, but let's face it. He still saw all of us as a bunch of children. Not surprising, considering he was working on his fourth century of living, but mildly insulting all the same. The laughing hand that had shoved snow up my nose for telling him he moved pretty fast for an old guy was surprising enough. He'd probably just been making sure I didn't have a concussion from that slam to the ground that had ended with me stretched out underneath him in a very…interesting…position.

I winced at the memory of how I'd puckered up like a guppy without giving it a second thought when he was just trying to make sure I wasn't going to sue him for unintentional bodily harm.

Even more humiliating was remembering the hot licks of anticipation that had curled through my stomach at the thought. I was an engaged woman lusting over my best friend's ex-boyfriend's father. That was…creepy. And wrong.

But remembering how the very excellent muscles in those abs and legs had felt against mine I couldn't help the blush that insisted on crawling up my cheeks at the sight of him lounging comfortably, arms crossed, in my doorway.

'Not for you, Max,' I reminded myself sternly, turning to fish the cup out of the water and break that steady gaze. 'Remember that very pretty ring on your left hand? The one that says you're only going to be sleeping with one man for the rest of your natural born life? Yeah. You need to remember that.

'Besides, men like Carlisle Cullen don't go around kissing women like you unless they're looking for some easy tail. And Carlisle's too good a guy for that. Which means this whole thing is your imagination and your hormones working overtime. So let's remember who and what you are and snap out of it.'

"Carlisle, can you cover for Max tomorrow?" Alice's bright voice cut through my highly depressing inner monologue. Oh no. Oh no no no no no. I knew where she was going with this.

"Probably. Why?" Carlisle's voice had slipped from amusement to silky indulgence when he turned to speak to his daughter. I groaned in mortification when I realized that Jeremy had taken advantage of my momentary distraction to climb out of the tub and shimmy his naked, wet little body up Dr. C's pants-his very expensive, very tailored pants-and, when he was swung almost absently up in the air to be set on a trim hip, proceeded to drip on Carlisle's shirt. His very blue, very silk, very expensive shirt. That was probably going to be very ruined by the time Jeremy was done getting water all over it.

At least, I really hoped that water. He was mostly potty trained, but…well, accidents happen.

"Shoot," I grumbled under my breath, clambering to my feet and wincing when I realized I was dripping all over the tiled floor. "That's just what this day needed. Come here, you naked little monkey."Cheeks blazing (even more than they already were), I plucked Jeremy back. "Sorry about that, Dr. C."

"Don't worry about it." The odd light that had been in his eyes just a few minutes ago was nowhere to be found in his familiar, easy grin. "What's going on tomorrow?"

"You do know what tomorrow is, don't you?" Alice's lips curled out in a petulant pout. Apparently it didn't matter what century you were living in, teenage girls still used the same tricks to keep their fathers curled around their little fingers.

"Of course. Tomorrow's Christmas Eve. Why?"

"Biggest accident day of the year. Tons of patients. Way too much work for you to live without me for an entire day. Sorry guys."

Carlisle looked at me like I'd suddenly sprouted a second head. Okay, so officially the clinic was closed tomorrow, most of Forks was out of town for the holidays and he was more than capable of handling the handful of stragglers who would come filtering in anyway. But I was desperate to get out of this shopping trip. With any luck he'd catch on and decide to play along.

"Oh please." Alice swung off the bed she'd been perched on with a disgusting amount of grace and wrapped an arm around my very wet shoulders. "We all know that's a bunch of baloney. Is she always this bad?"

"I'm afraid so," said my mother sadly, shaking her head. "Hated shopping for dress clothes, even when she was little. I have no idea where she gets it from."

"See? Nothing but sour grapes." Alice turned and beamed up at Carlisle. "You can live without her for the day, can't you Carlisle?"

"Well…" He deliberately drew the word out, and I cringed. Here we go. This is where Carlisle defected to the other side and I found myself buried up to my elbows in lace and tulle whether I wanted to be there or not.

"Oh come now Dr. Cullen. I'm sure you'd agree that every woman is entitled to the perfect wedding dress." My mother tipped her head to the side and smiled winsomely. There wasn't a man alive that had ever stood up to that smile and won. I was so screwed.

"If we don't take her shopping she'll probably wear those black leather pants of hers down the aisle, and nobody wants that," Rosalie chimed in, her eyes dancing with demonic glee.

"No, nobody wants that." You had to listen carefully to catch the slight hint of irony in his voice, but his face was nothing but sincere when he turned back to me. "It seems apologies are in order. I've been extremely selfish with your time so far. Of course you're entitled to some time off on Christmas Eve."

"But what about Kara and Jeremy? If we all go shopping, who's going to keep an eye on the two of them?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Rosalie rolled her eyes. "Carlisle, Jasper and Emmett are more than capable of keeping an eye on the kids while we're out. It'll be good for them. And Emmett loves having someone his own age to play with."

Ouch. Hard to argue, since Emmett was an overgrown child in his own right in oh, so many ways, but still. Ouch.

"She's right." Carlisle reached out to affectionately tousle Jeremy's hair. "Kara's improved by leaps and bounds since she got here. We're certainly capable of keeping the two of them out of trouble for the day."

"And Billy and Jenny too," said Alice innocently. "We can't take this trip without Bella."

"She's right," agreed Rosalie, completely ignoring the slightly pained look on Carlisle's face. "Bad enough we're going without Jaz. Bella would never let us live it down if we took Max dress shopping without her."

"You know, I can always just take Jeremy with me. And Jenny too. That would just leave you…"

"No, no it's fine." Carlisle sucked in a deep breath and smiled. "Three grown men are perfectly capable of handling four small children. You ladies have a good time. We'll be all right."

He turned and started heading to the door.

"Hey!" I called out, realizing he'd probably come looking for me for a reason. "Was there something you needed?"

"No." He stopped for a minute, fingers lightly tapping on the doorframe, then shook his head. "No, it was nothing important. Have fun tomorrow."

"Traitor," I muttered under my breath under Alice's happy squeal, watching his shoulders shake with laughter as he stepped out into the hallway and disappeared.

And that's how I wound up here. On this stupid pedestal in this stupid bridal shop looking in the stupid mirror, struggling to find myself in the slightly nauseated face staring back at me.

"It's perfect!" Alice clapped her hands. Bella's were clutched to her chest. Even Rosalie was smiling. And mom was looking all misty eyed. Hell. I was so screwed. There was no way I was walking out of this store without this dress.

"There's no way you're walking out of this store without this dress," my mom announced proudly. Damn it. I hated being right. "Max, it's perfect for you."

"I don't know," I said doubtfully, squinting at myself in the mirror. "It seems like it's just…so much _more_ than I really need, don't you think?"

"Are you kidding? It's like something out of a fairy tale. It's totally you."

Alice's reassurances really didn't help. Squinting at myself again, I frowned. Okay, so maybe it wasn't so bad. The strapless sweetheart neckline was decked out in about a billion beads, with lace flowing from tip to toe to give it an astonishingly old-fashioned look. It looked like the kind of dress that belonged on a Bronte heroine, or one of those wishy washy chicks from those old movies Bella always watched. Hell, it belonged on Bella, or Alice, or Rosalie. Or even my mother.

But the woman in the mirror, while undoubtedly pretty, wasn't me. At least, not any me I wanted to be.

Tuning back in, I realized mom and Alice and Rosalie were talking shoes. And bags. And veils. Hell.

"Looking good kid."

"Suck off, Nick," I muttered, glaring at the man slouched against the door to the semi-dressing room. I had to put up with my mother, and Bella, and Alice and Rosalie. I didn't have to put up with him.

"No seriously." He straightened up, looking me up and down appraisingly. "You look good. Lover boy's going to swallow his tongue when he sees his sweet, demure little bride walking down the aisle."

There was no missing the sarcasm in his voice that time. I stuck my tongue out at him, then turned back to survey myself doubtfully. "Or sue for false advertising."

"Distinct possibility. But aren't you dying to find out?"

I hopped down with a sigh. No point in fighting the inevitable. Mom had decided she wanted to buy my wedding dress for Christmas, and if I didn't break down and agree to buy this one she was just going to go out and find another one. Or make me try on another thousand dresses until _**I**_ found one, which was even worse. A wedding was only for a day, right?

'Yes, but isn't it supposed to be the happiest day of your life?'

'If my mother's still speaking to me by then, it's a happy day. _This_ is just a dress.'

"All right," I said, sending a room full of heads snapping around to look in my direction. "All right. Let's do it. I'll take it."

Ignoring Nick's smug grin (how had I not sicced Emmett on him yet?) I turned back to study myself in the mirror one more time, trying to picture myself wearing it when Jack walked me back down the aisle. Or cutting cake. Or raising a glass in a toast. I couldn't see it. I could see myself in this mockery of a dress all too well thanks to the mirror in front of me-oh god, was Alice actually talking about hair extensions now?-but I couldn't see myself wearing it when my happy groom grabbed my hand and spun me around the dance floor.

Ah well. Glancing down at the ring on my finger, I grinned. Okay, so I hated the idea of getting married in a dress that made me look like the poster child for a Norman Rockwell painting. My fiancé would understand that, which meant I could suck it up and play nice for the day.

But there wasn't going to be a scrap of lace or pink ribbon on the black teddy that was going on underneath.

It didn't take me long to decide I should have fought a little harder. They dragged me from the bridal shop to the shoe store to a hairdresser to a jeweler (shouldn't these people have been closed on Christmas Eve?), where I spent almost an hour arguing with a sales clerk over whether or not black onyx set in silver was perfectly acceptable jewelry to get married in. Rosalie and Alice had finally hooked their arms through mine and dragged me out of there before I crawled over the counter and strangled the woman.

So my mood was…something less than pleasant when I walked into the living room and found Carlisle sitting on the couch, Jenny cheerfully mussing his hair, Kara stretched out on the couch with her head in his lap watching a video and Billy and Jeremy running rampant up and down the hall.

Emmett and Jasper were nowhere to be found.

"Where'd Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dumber take off to?" demanded Rosalie, glaring around the living room like she could make her errant brother and husband appear through sheer power of will. I had to agree. What did they do, jump ship and leave Carlisle on kid duty all by himself? That was just mean.

"Emmett and Jasper discovered pressing matters that had to be done at work this afternoon." Carlisle looked more than slightly bemused as he watched the orange and black Tigger bouncing around on-screen. Another victim of the black hole that was children's cartoons. "As a result, these lovely ladies and I have spent our day doing our best to restore order."

"Dr. Cullen let us have popsicles for lunch," said Kara shyly, beaming up at Carlisle.

"Uh huh." Plopping down on the floor next to the couch, I leaned back against Carlisle's knees and grinned up at her. "What else did Dr. Cullen let you have?"

"Umm…" She looked up at Carlisle, biting her lip nervously. "Nothing?"

Carlisle winked at her conspiratorially, making her giggle so loud her entire face lit up. Jenny joined in, and just like that my bad mood disappeared. When she'd first arrived Kara had barely said boo to anyone. It had been less than two weeks and she was blossoming, and while I would have loved to have taken all the credit I knew I had Carlisle and his family to thank for most of it. Rosalie's open affection, Emmett's good natured teasing, Carlisle's endless patience and Alice and Jasper's willingness to _be_ with her had worked miracles.

She no longer cringed when one of the boys walked in the room, or when the Cullens and the La Push gang got a little too loud. She knew, with a child's intuition, that they weren't going to hurt her. That was a miniature miracle in and of itself.

"Max!"

Jeremy came tearing down the hall, Billy hot on his heels. Both boys tumbled into my lap for hugs before Billy noticed his mother and took off.

"Maxine, where would you like me to…oh, Dr. Cullen." Mom stopped and finger-combed her already perfect hair before beaming at Carlisle. "It's good to see you. Maxine, where would you like me to hang this?"

"Upstairs in my room is fine."

"Oh, come on now. You have to let us see." Dad walked into the room, wiping his hands on a dish towel and smiling. Come to think of it, where had he been all afternoon? It wasn't like him to cop KP. On the other hand, given the choice between KP and diaper duty…

Wait. What?

"Isn't it, like, bad luck for everyone to see the dress before the wedding or something?"

"It's only bad luck if the groom sees you, and he's what, four hours away? Five?" Mom shook her head, waving her fingers in front of her face. "It'll be fine. Better yet, why don't you go put it on?"

"Oh no, I don't…"

"Yeah Max." Nick leered at me, one eyebrow raised, while he threw an arm around his sister's shoulders. "Why don't you go put it back on and come on out so we can all play dress up?"

"It'll be a good opportunity to see how it's going to look with the jewelry and the veil and the shoes when you put it all together," said Alice practically, cutting me off before I could find something hard to throw at his thick head.

"I wanna see."

Kara's soft, hopeful voice piped up from the couch, cutting off any protest I would have made. I could hate the stupid dress as much as I wanted to, but it was probably the first time she'd ever come out and actually asked for anything. So, if Kara wanted to dress me up like a real-life Barbie doll, I would be her real life Barbie doll.

But I didn't have to like it.

With a sigh I pushed up, snatched up the bags from that afternoon's rendezvous and headed for my room. If you're going to do it, might's well do it right, right? My hair was already done. It had grown out in the last month (more due to sheer laziness than any actual desire on my part) and was now long enough to arrange in a 50's style series of pin curls that matched the dress perfectly. A quick fix to the makeup, something much lighter and more subtle than I usually wore, then a shimmy into the dress and its black satin undergarments and I was good to go. Slipping my feet into my shoes and fastening the diamond teardrops on my ears and around my neck, I settled the stupid tiara I'd let Alice talk me into on top of my head. Taking a deep breath, I stepped out and made my grand entrance into the living room.

"Woah." Emmett, who had somehow magically reappeared while I was getting dressed, grinned. "You look good enough to eat."

Rosalie smacked him on the back of the head. Mom pressed her hands to her lips and smiled mistily. "Look at this Hank. Our little girl's getting married."

"That she is." Looking me up and down, he smiled approvingly. "That she is. You look…amazing, Maxie."

"It's so pretty." Kara's voice was filled with awe, and she gently reached out a hand before jerking it back. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay," I cut in before she could go on a rambling apology. "You can touch."

Gently reaching out, she stroked one tentative finger over the lacework of my skirt. I squatted down onto the floor so she could get a better look at the beading on the top.

"Wow." Jeremy looked me up and down, then grinned. "Max is a princess."

Only one person hadn't weighed in on the dress yet. Since he was the only one in the room I actually trusted to have any taste, I looked over at Carlisle, raising my eyebrows in question. Passing Jenny over to her mother, Carlisle tucked a pillow under Kara's head and stood up. Bending down, he caught my hand and pulled me to my feet, looking me over from head to toe with an intensity that had butterflies flip-flopping in my stomach. Trapped in the dark whiskey of his eyes I stepped closer and, when he took that hand and held it up in the air, spinning me around so the skirt dipped and spun around me, I felt like a princess waiting for those first magical words from Prince Charming instead of a little girl playing dress up in clothes that really didn't fit.

'This must be what Cinderella felt like the night of the ball,' I thought bemusedly, feeling my heart start to pound just a little harder. 'Just have to watch out for those pumpkins.'

"You look beautiful, Maxine. Jack is a very lucky man." Lifting my hand to his chest he bowed over it like some old world courtier, then gently placed it back at my side before bending down to scoop up Kara. "Now, if you'll excuse us, this young lady needs to get to bed."

"Not me," boasted Jeremy, grinning and thumping himself on the chest. "Big boy."

"You are a big boy," I said, smiling as I kissed those tousled little curls, trying to ignore a strange feeling of disappointment crawling through my chest, "and big boys need sleep to grow even bigger. Let me get changed and I'll come put you to bed."

"Oh, let me do it." Mom bustled over, a look of unadulterated grandmotherly glee on her face. "I think we'll stop in and read a story with sister before she falls asleep, then make an unscheduled pit stop by the bathtub before we head to bed."

"Bubbles?" Jeremy very seriously wrapped one curl around his little baby fist and, unable to resist, I bent down and kissed him on the nose.

"I bet you'll get some bubbles out of the deal. Just try not to give her a bath in the process, okay sport?"

The pair disappeared. Dad shuffled off to the kitchen, Bella scooped up her brood and headed for the door and Rosalie, Alice and Emmett drifted off who knew where. I couldn't see Nick; but then, that wasn't unusual. I could never see Nick when he didn't want to be seen. It's why I kept losing this strange game of cat and mouse we'd been playing since we met.

So all that was left was me.

"No, don't worry, I'll get it," I said wryly, heading down the hall to deal with the eight million and one buttons running down the back of my dress. Why did I say yes to this again?

Ah well. Shopping hell was over, and it was still Christmas Eve. Which meant free food was right around the corner.

Christmas Eve at Chez Cullen was always a fun affair. Apparently Jasper and Emmett's errands that afternoon had considerably less to do with work and more to do with finding the biggest tree in the woods and hauling it home. The Cullens, my parents and most of La Push showed up to get it decorated, then dig into the huge pile of grub.

Between the food and a healthy dose of Sam's special blend I was feeling no pain as I waltzed down the hall at two in the morning. The Cullens had slipped out around eleven for their annual Christmas hunting trip, with the La Push gang drifting off shortly after. Mom had helped the very drunk senator stagger down to their guest room around midnight. So I wasn't expecting the warm body that caught me around the waist and pressed me up against the wall.

"Hey Maxie girl, got a dance for your old man?"

The senator leered at me, his eyes tracing over my body. Shit. Here we go again.

"I'm done dancing for the night, thanks," I said coolly, trying to quell the revulsion crawling along my skin and the nausea churning in my belly. "You're drunk. Go to bed and sleep it off before you do something you're going to regret in the morning."

"Aw." He smiled his charming politician's smile. The public lapped it up. It just made my skin crawl. "That's not fair. You certainly had a dance for every one of those men that came in here today. Including Dr. Cullen. Don't think I didn't notice the way you bent over to make sure you showed those…" he leered at the objects in question "gorgeous, nubile young breasts of yours."

"You're drunk, you're stupid, and now you're digging. Go to bed."

The sloppy, happy drunk suddenly disappeared, replaced by a cruel smile as he caught my wrist and bent my arm around until I cried out. "You think I don't see what you've got going here, Maxie girl? You're nothing but a two bit whore, just like your mother." He pushed himself up against me, rubbing obscenely. "How many of them are you putting out for, eh? Bet that fiancé of yours doesn't have a clue, does he? Uh huh." His face lit when I paled. "I didn't think so. Some people never change. I'd say it's long past my turn."

"Never again," I snarled, thrashing against his arm hard enough to break his hold and deliver a stinging slap to the cheek. "I will never, ever be your whore again, do you hear me?"

He'd turned his head to the side, following the throw through like an idiot. When he came up his eyes were almost black with anger. I didn't care. Let him do what he wanted to do. If he put another hand on me I was going to break it off for him and deal with the consequences later.

He did get one lucky sucker punch in, a fist connection that was going to leave my left eye black and blue for quite a while, but before I could get in another hit he had my arms pinned behind my back and was pressing me up against the wall.

"So, you want to play rough? I can play rough." He pressed his hot, wet lips against my neck, the smell of alcohol crawling nauseatingly up my nose. "It's been a long time Max. I've missed you."

I thrashed back, trying to get out of his grasp without making too much noise, desperately glad to be spared the humiliation of the Cullens seeing any of this. It was a part of my past I'd been almost maniacally careful to keep out of my present, and the last thing I needed was to have it come crumbling down around my ears because he decided to get drunk and stupid.

With a sick sense of horror I felt his fingers start fumbling for the front clasp of my jeans. There were only two ways this was going to end, and I'd be damned if he was going to take advantage of me again. Before I could do anything, however, a cool voice drifted down the hallway.

"Would someone care to tell me what's going on here?"


	24. Max: Just Desserts

_**A/N: I had to take a second in this chapter and give a huge shoutout to Tim C. Girl and justy13 for the constant support, encouragement, reviews and feedback that are keeping this story going right now, and to nat1794 for the huge smiles with her last review! (You're amazing sweetie. Seriously.) I have to admit, there's always a part of me that looks at the reviews this story gets and wonders, is anyone still reading? You guys are awesome, and we will DEFINITELY keep rolling!**_

_**Now (before justy13 beats me for leaving her hanging!), on with the show…**_

**Christmas Eve**

**Forks**

**Max**

Time seemed to freeze, then started again in slow motion. I saw the senator let go of my hands and step back. I felt the cool chill of fresh air flow between us when I was finally free to move. But all of that came through a haze of mortification when I looked up and saw Carlisle's lips pursed in disapproval as he took in the senator's disheveled appearance, my unsnapped jeans and our compromising position.

"Carlisle, this isn't what it looks like," I said in a rush, wincing when he arched an eyebrow. All right, that was probably the most overused line in history. But it was desperately important to me that he knew I hadn't…I wouldn't…

Then I caught the senator's own meaningful look and snapped my mouth shut. Crap. Talk about a catch 22. You make a deal with the devil, you deal with the brimstone, right? And since I'd cut a deal with this particular devil before I even knew what that meant, I had no other choice but to keep quiet and let the chips fall where they may. Even though I knew exactly what he was going to do, what he was going to say, and what people were going to think when he was done.

And if it meant losing the respect of someone who meant a great deal to me, so be it. I'd lived without him before. I could live without him again.

Slowly Emmett and Rosalie stepped into the hallway behind Dr. C, followed by Alice and Jasper and Nick. It was over. The best I'd been able to hope for was that I'd be able to write it off as a mistake and swear Dr. C to silence. With everyone standing in the hallway now, everyone knew what was going on. They were going to draw their own conclusions, and there was nothing I could do about it.

"My apologies, Dr. Cullen," said the senator, smoothing back his hair and straightening his shirt. "Max and I had some…unfinished business between us. As you can see, our relationship is a bit more complicated than you might have originally been led to believe. It was indiscrete of us to pursue this as we did, however. It won't happen again."

Hot, accusing eyes shifted from the senator to my face, flicking to my rapidly swelling eye and the cut on my lip. When he spoke, however, his voice was cool. "Maxine?"

I couldn't bring myself to lie, so I glued my eyes to the floor and murmured softly, "I'm sorry Dr. C. It won't happen again." Risking a quick glance at my foster father, who was sobering up quickly in front of the crowd, I looked back down and slid across the wall toward the disapproving crowd. "If you'll excuse me, I'll go pack my things."

They'd be glad to have me gone. I certainly didn't belong here, not anymore. Not now that they knew-or thought they knew-my darkest secrets. As I passed him, however, Carlisle's hand shot out and grabbed my arm. Turning, he tucked me behind him so I was out of sight of the man glaring down the hallway.

"I'm not done speaking to you," he said softly. "Go wait for me in my office. Nicholas." He looked over Rosalie's shoulder at the solemn eyed vamp. "Walk her down, then wait for me. Don't let her leave until I get there, understand?"

"Yes sir."

Wow. Nick just called somebody sir. Did somebody catch the temperature down under?

Nick caught my arm and hustled me down the hallway. The Cullens closed ranks behind me, but as we slipped through the door into Carlisle's office I could hear the Senator's voice spinning his old familiar tale.

'It doesn't matter anymore,' I thought grimly, stepping into the dark room that had been a sanctuary for so many years. However temporarily, it was now my own personal prison, guarded by the dark angel standing by the doorway…digging through the refrigerator?

"Here." Nick tossed me a soda, his eyes carefully blank. "You should probably sit down before you fall down."

I hadn't realized until then that my knees were trembling. So were my hands. And my stomach was churning nauseatingly as I waited for the judge, jury and executioner. It was amazing how mistakes could come back and haunt you. I had been convinced I was doing the right thing at the time, but now…

They were all going to hate me. And they didn't know, couldn't know. At least right now they just thought I was a slut. They didn't have to know I was a murderer as well.

I could see the disgust in Carlisle's eyes if he ever found out the truth. No, it was better to let things stay as they were. I could take Kara and Jeremy back to Seattle and be just fine. Maybe Bella and Jaz would come visit. I had no doubt I would no longer be welcome at the Cullen house by the time my darling father got done spewing his poison to cover his own ass.

Sinking down into the deep chair in front of Carlisle's desk, I dropped my head between my knees. Wincing as the pressure sent pain shooting through the swollen, aching side of my face, I swallowed another mouthful of blood. I just wanted to get this over with so I could make the trip back home and sleep in my own bed.

I must have dozed off at some point, because the next thing I knew the bleeding in my mouth had stopped and gentle hands were holding an ice pack to my throbbing cheek.

"Here." Carlisle pressed two Ibuprofens into my palm, passing me a glass of water with a straw to sip them down. "Let's see if we can stop the swelling before we don't even recognize that pretty face of yours, shall we?"

The tightly leashed fury was still evident in his voice, but, always the professional, his hands were soft as they carefully checked my head and face for any other injuries. I could have told him the only thing permanently damaged was my pride. And the tiny piece of my heart that had hoped I'd finally found someplace I could belong.

"Thanks." I took the water from him and drank deeply, the cold water feeling like heaven against my raw, burning throat. To my complete and utter humiliation I realized I was right on the verge of breaking down in tears.

'Far too late for that, Max. Suck it up, let him vent his spleen, then you can get going.' This was a routine I knew all too well.

"You're very welcome." Grabbing a coaster Carlisle set the drink down, then leaned against the side of his desk with the casual air of a man who had all the time in the world. "Now, why don't you tell me what happened? The truth this time, if you please."

I stared up at him blankly. "Excuse me?"

"I've already heard the load of monkey dung your foster father tried to feed me," he said pleasantly, dark eyes snapping dangerously when I opened my mouth. "However, I think it's safe to say I wasn't born yesterday, Maxine. Whatever happened in that hallway, you were not a willing participant. And unless I'm very much mistaken, it wasn't the first time. Since I'm obviously not going to get the truth from him, you're not going to leave this room until I get it from you. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

Shit. Tears pricked my eyes and spilled down my cheeks when I realized what he was saying. He believed me. Or would believe me, if I told him. No one had ever had that much blind faith in me before. For a second I thought about spilling my guts. Then I remembered the deal I'd made, the papers I'd signed. The lives that would be ruined. And I kept quiet.

"Max?"

Cringing at the mercurial impatience in his voice, I angrily brushed the tears from my cheeks. "What is there to tell? I seduced the senator when I was a teenager living in his house. We had a wild affair through college. We obviously both have feelings for each other, but his position prevents us from acting on them. And so, sometimes we just get carried away."

"I see." I could hear him rustling papers on his desk, followed by the sharp crack of splintering wood from a fist slamming down on the carefully molded corner. A second later he was crouched in front of me, and the hand that forced my chin up to look into his face was shaking with fury. "I'm not sure which bothers me more, that you would feel the need to lie to me or that you would believe me ignorant enough to believe it." The calm in his voice was completely at odds with the bloody murder chasing across his face. "The truth Maxine. Now. Or so help me god, tonight's encounter is going to be splashed across every newspaper from here to New York by tomorrow morning."

"You can't!" Panicked, I reached up and grabbed his hands. "Carlisle, please. You can't."

Jerking his hands out of my grasp, he prowled restlessly around the room. "The hell I can't. He can't hurt me, Max. Or anyone else in this house. And I can't for a moment believe that after that display you're worried about what's going to happen to him should the story come out. So who are you protecting?"

"Myself." Giving up, I slumped back in my chair. I was tired. Tired of the lies. Tired of the secrets. And if it came back to bite me in the ass, so be it. I couldn't lie to Carlisle any more. "I'm protecting myself."

"Go on."

Nausea crawled up the back of my throat, and I grabbed the wastebasket from under the desk and threw up until my stomach muscles cramped and twisted in protest. The man at the window never moved, except to close his eyes until I was done. From the rustling outside the door, however, I wasn't the only one being grossed out by my rebellious stomach.

"May as well come on in guys." Emmett's curious head poked around the door. "I really only want to have to tell this story once. This way I know I won't be filling in any details later."

Slowly the Cullens all filed in, Nick closing the door behind him. With a sigh I leaned back in the chair, closed my eyes and let it all come tumbling out.

"I was eight when they first placed me with the Donovans," I began, swallowing back tears. "I was such a screw-up those first couple of years. I'd already been bounced through the system, so I figured it was just a matter of time before they tossed me back too. I got into fights with the neighbor kids. I argued with my mom constantly. I hated dresses and parties and spending hours smiling pretty for the camera at political rallies, so I'd spike the punch or set a snake loose in the middle of a ballroom.

"Mom wanted to tear her hair out, but Dad just laughed. He always had time to spend a couple of hours outside playing catch or teaching me how to kick a ball or build the perfect mud castle. He was my hero." I laughed, the irony almost choking me. "I started trying to fit in a little more, and by the time I was twelve I was really good at being the perfect daughter. Or pretending to be, anyway.

"It started one night, when I was fourteen. I'd gotten home late from some school event or another. I don't even remember what it was now. But I remember it was hotter than hell outside, and I'd worn these short shorts and a tank top to keep from melting in the miserable summer heat. I found Dad in the kitchen, bent over a bottle of bourbon. Just another hard day in the office, he said. Then he pulled me over onto his lap the way he had a thousand times before. But this time…"

Memories clawed at the back of my throat, cutting off my speech. Taking a quick sip of my water I looked down at the carpet, carefully studying the shoes that ranged from one side of the room to the other. I couldn't bear to see the pity on their faces. "This time he told me how pretty I was, and how grown up I was becoming. Then he kissed me.

"We became lovers soon after that. He'd come to me whenever he'd had too much to drink. It took me years to realize he and mom were having problems, and I was just a way for him to fill in the blank spots. When he was sober he was the best father I could ask for, so even though part of me knew there was something very wrong about our relationship I didn't tell anyone about…anything. It was just sex. Lord knows after living with my mother I was no stranger to what happened between a man and a woman in the bedroom. He wasn't my real dad, so it wasn't that big a deal, right?"

My voice broke. Emmett's hand appeared out of nowhere, reassuringly squeezing my shoulder, and without thinking I reached back and wrapped my fingers through his the way I had a thousand times before. "By the time I was sixteen I knew what we were doing was wrong, but when I told him we had to stop he just laughed at me. Said I was just the daughter of a whore, and I needed to earn my keep. And when I threatened to tell everyone what was going on, he told me to go ahead. Nothing I could do was going to hurt him. Not now.

"He was right. I was the daughter of a whore. And he was on a fast track up the political ladder. If I tried to tell anyone, no one would believe me. All he'd have to do was tell them I was lying, then toss me back into the system."

"Did Jeanni know?"Carlisle's dry, raspy voice cut through the air like a whip.

"Yes. No. I don't know." Letting out a whoosh of air, I scrubbed one hand along the back of my neck. "I don't think so. My mother loves me. She'd have put a stop to it if she knew. But I was so embarrassed about the whole thing…However it happened, I just couldn't bring myself to tell her I was sleeping with her husband."

"So what happened?" Rosalie's voice was thick with sympathy. Of course she, of all people, would understand how it felt to be used by a man. But it was sympathy I didn't deserve.

"When I was sixteen I found out I was pregnant." The collective whoosh of air in the room made me cringe. This, this was the part I hated. The part that came back to haunt me night after night. "By that time I knew I wanted out, and I was willing to do anything to make that happen. The baby was my bargaining chip.

"The senator was furious when he found out. Threatened to make me get an abortion, swore up and down he'd tell the world I was lying if I tried to blame it on him. I told him we could make a deal, or I'd request a DNA test and drag his name through the mud so the entire world would know what he really was. His political career would be dead in the water."

"What kind of deal?" Jasper's question was innocent enough, but there was enough suspicion behind it that I knew he knew. Or at least suspected. Lord knew there was enough shame and guilt rolling off of me in that moment to fill a room.

"He paid my tuition to boarding school for the rest of high school, then undergrad and med school at Dartmouth. He also deposited two million dollars into a trust so I would never, ever have to rely on him for the bread on my plate or the roof over my head again. In exchange, I would abort the baby, play the happy daughter when we were in public, and never breathe a word of any of this to anyone."

"You blackmailed him." The awe and respect in Emmett's voice would have made me smile if the truth didn't make me so miserable.

"I did, and I used my baby to do it." Looking over at Carlisle, I pleaded with him with my eyes to understand-or at the very least, to forgive me for it. "I didn't know what else to do. I saw a way out, and I took it. I signed papers, went to the clinic, and by the end of the week I was on a plane to Switzerland. I couldn't think about what I'd given up to get there. I just couldn't."

"It didn't end there, did it." There was no question in the condemning eyes that turned from the window to look at me. Something inside of me died at the fury and disgust hiding there. It was how I always knew he'd look at me if he ever found out. Not that I'd been abused by my foster family, but that I'd sacrificed an innocent life to get myself out. He'd never understand that, and I was going to have to live with that.

"No," I said softly, hunching over in my chair. "If anything, it got worse. Every time I was home on vacation, from school and later, from Dartmouth…well." Smiling wryly, I looked down at my hands. "I think part of him felt as guilty about what had happened as I did, and it was easier for him to blame me than to blame himself. Eventually I just stopped coming home.

"When I went to college I left my good little girl persona behind. I went out. I partied. I slept around. A lot. Usually with guys I knew I wasn't going to see after the morning after. I thought I was asserting my independence." I slumped down in my seat with a laugh. "What I was really doing was making myself miserable.

"Toward the end of my sophomore year I fell in with a real creep. I didn't realize until after the fact that he was a cokehead, and that he was flying more often than not. He beat the shit out of me one night as an encore after getting his jollies." I remembered that night, the dark feeling of hopelessness that had followed me all the way back to the dorm. The sting and burn of the hot water on my tender skin as I tried to scrub my sins away. "Jaz found me, curled up in the tub bawling my eyes out, called Bella and kicked my ass all the way to the hospital. The doctors patched me up, and for the three days I spent under observation they ripped me up one side and down the other.

"By the time I got out I was sick of who I'd become. I stopped dating, stopped drinking, stopped sleeping around. I buried myself in school and started taking martial arts to make sure no one was ever, ever going to lay their hands on me again." I shrugged, looking up. "That's it. I graduated, moved to Seattle, and spend as little time at home as I possibly can."

Dead silence hung over the room for a moment. Then Carlisle pushed away from the window and, without meeting my eyes, strode across the room and out, slamming the heavy wooden door behind him.

The echo in the room kept time with the tears streaming down my face.


	25. Carlisle: The Rail Out of Town

**Christmas Eve**

**Forks**

**Carlisle**

The trees passed by in a blur as I pushed myself to run harder, faster, farther into the forest through La Push. Neither the beauty of the trees nor the fear in the animals that scattered in front of my feet were enough to appease the growling, snapping beast inside me. It was the first time in over 200 years that the monster threatened to overcome the man. I was holding on to control with my fingernails. Max would be furious with me for walking out on her the way I had, but she'd forgive me. If I had stayed…

If I had stayed, I'd have done something neither one of us would have been able to forgive.

Breaking through the tree line I leapt to the top of a boulder, tongue absently stroking the razor sharp quills along the bottom of my teeth that were primed for the hunt, and stared out over the Olympic peninsula while I waited for Emmett to catch up.

"You're late. And noisy."

"And you're a jerk." Emmett walked over, leaping to the top of the rock along with me. "She was still bawling her eyes out when I left, you know." The words, laced with accusation, and the mental picture they brought with them made me cringe. Max rarely cried. It was one of the things I loved most about her. That she was doing it now…

I needed to be there. The self-loathing for the choices she'd been driven to make, her fear of what we…_**I**_…would think, had been written all over her face. The need to wrap my arms around that small, shaking body, to hold her until she understood that no one here would condemn her for the actions of a frightened, trapped little girl, was a tangible thing. So was her need for comfort and reassurance.

That need wasn't quite enough to block out the black fury vibrating in my chest. The feral instinct to draw human blood that hadn't plagued me since I was a newborn reared its head, not to feed, but to protect what was mine. It was too dangerous for me to be anywhere near the man responsible for this misery. I'd tear out his throat and wallow in his blood. I'd undoubtedly regret it in the morning, but morning was still several hours away. Right now the only bit of conscience I could find was the thought of the horror on Max's face if I killed the man.

In that moment I loathed the predator inside me that drove me to be here, miles from home, sucking in the clear crystal air in a futile struggle to get a grip on my humanity, when I needed to be with her.

"Look, I get that you're pissed about this. I know how you are about the sanctity of human life." Emmett sighed, dragging a hand through his hair. "But don't you think you could have given her at least a little bit of sympathy before you walked out on her? She was in a tough spot."

Shock cut through the haze of red dancing in front of my eyes. Dear lord. After all the years I'd spent with them, after the number of times I'd stepped in, cleaned up their messes when they were little more than children in this new life, my family could honestly believe I would condemn her choice when she'd had every other choice taken away from her?

"What is this opinion you have of me?" I asked in disbelief. "Max is bad enough, but you, Emmett? After all this time?" Emmett just shrugged, shifting uncomfortably. In a flash of insight I realized it wasn't just Max he was uncomfortable about. If I could hold one human life against her, would I do the same to him? Had I, secretly, all these years?

Sanity was still out of my reach, but this was my son, and he was afraid. That grounded me, gave me the control to reach out and wrap a reassuring arm around his shoulders. He didn't shrug it off like he would have only a few months earlier, and the feeling of his arms wrapping around my waist was a welcome one.

"She was a child," I murmured, the words raw and stinging. "She should have never been put in the position to have to make the choice. She didn't see any other way out, and the people that should have helped her didn't lift a hand to help her do it. She did what she had to do to survive, and nobody has the right to say a bloody thing about it. Especially me."

With a sigh I hopped down, slamming my fist into the boulder and watching with satisfaction as it crumbled beneath Emmett's feet. "I knew," I confessed, laughing dryly when he hopped down with a disgruntled yelp. "I knew something was wrong between them the moment I met them. But Maxine Donovan had made the news more than once for defying her conservative parents, and they seemed to get along well enough on the surface. I wrote it off as teenage rebellion.

"How many years, Emmett?" The truth was a cold, hard lump in my stomach, but the words had to be said. "How many years did she suffer for my benign neglect? How many times did I ignore the signs? How many nights were his hands on her when I could have helped her?"

"Jesus Carlisle, is that what this is about? Your God complex?" I pushed away from my son, stalking back to the tree line, but he just followed me across the small clearing and back to the path we'd just come from. "Oh, come on. It's true and you know it. You always feel like you have to save everybody. You couldn't save her. Damn it Carlisle, do you hear me? She didn't _want_ you to save her.

"If she had, Bella would have come to you a long time ago, and you know it. She needed to handle it herself. And what would you have done anyway? She wouldn't have taken a dime from you. And short of having him killed…" He trailed off when I turned.

"Don't underestimate the tremendous amount of pleasure it would give me to feel his windpipe snap between my teeth right now," I snarled. I could all but taste his blood beneath my teeth. "I'll admit I don't relish the thought of taking a human life, but it wouldn't be the first time I've killed to protect my own and I sincerely doubt it will be the last."

"But you've never killed a human before."

"Yes, well, there's a first time for everything."

Emmett's gaping disbelief had me pulling myself in with a sigh-and, in doing so, leashing the last of the fury that had been driving me to that point.

"She was a child, Emmett. That's what I can't get past. What kind of man could do that to his own child?" The sun slowly cresting on the horizon caught my eye. Christmas Day. It wasn't shaping up to be much of a holiday for any of us.

The children would be up soon, expecting presents from Saint Nicholas. From what Max had told me, they'd never had much of a Christmas before. We'd all run around like maniacs preparing their Christmas Day surprise for them. It was only fair they get to enjoy it.

"I'll talk to Max later, but I don't want him breathing her air for another second." I started jogging down the trail, Emmett hot on my heels, my ears pricked and following the sounds of footsteps cutting through the woods and heading straight for us. "Jeanni is welcome to stay, but I want him gone before sunrise."

"You want who gone?" Jacob melted out of the woods along the trail, Embry and Paul in wolf form flanking him on either side. Ah. I'd thought that was who it was, but it was difficult to tell. Wolf scents were considerably less distinct than those of a human. Or even a vampire. It probably had something to do with that almost overwhelming stench of wet dog, something else I'd more or less gotten used to over the years but could never quite put out of my mind.

"Apparently the good senator's even slimier than he looks," Emmett informed him before I could say a word. "We caught him trying to get it on with a very unwilling Max in the hallway. Turns out it's not the first time."

Jacob turned to me, his pupils shifting into wolf-like slits. "You want me to kill him for you?"

"That's not, I think, the best way to handle this situation," I said slowly, carefully sifting through the ideas that were starting to race through my head now that the bloodlust was gone. "There are things that are worse than death, especially when you're in the public eye. But if killing becomes necessary I'll handle it myself."

Paul whined eagerly from where he was trotting along next to us. Embry snorted. Even in his wolf form it was impossible to miss the disgust behind it. Jacob looked down and nodded. "I couldn't agree more. Sure you don't want me to just phase and rip his throat out on the way out of town? Make it look like a wild animal did it? You know they're all over the place up here."

"No, although if you don't mind I'm going to reserve that option for a later date."

Jacob grunted. The three wolves were all bristling with restrained violence. They were all good men, men I'd come to know very well over the past handful of years. None of them killed lightly, and the stab of regret was bitter and sharp. If Max had known how many people she had standing behind her, would she have allowed this to go on as long as it had?

There was time to contemplate that later. Right now, there was a rat in the house. It was long past time this particular rat knew what it was like to have a bigger predator breathing down his neck.

The senator's red-rimmed, bloodshot eyes nearly popped out of his head when he opened the door to his bedroom and found three tall, angry, muscular wolves standing there, arms crossed, glowering at him. Before he could slam the door in our faces I caught him by the throat and dragged him out into the hallway, pinning him to the wall and taking a tremendous amount of pleasure from the florid color that rapidly filled his face.

"Let's get one thing straight," I said congenially, reaching up with my other hand to pat his cheek just a little harder than absolutely necessary. "The only reason you're still among the living is because I'm pretty sure your daughter would take it personally if you weren't breathing when she got up tomorrow morning. I can't understand why, but there it is. Now, I'm a reasonable man. So I'm going to make you a deal." Leaning forward so we were nose to nose, I let the monster slip out, just a little. Just enough to give the man a healthy fear for his own skin. Just enough to have him turning pale, to feel that involuntary shiver when I leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "You're going to leave. Tonight. Your wife is welcome to stay through the holidays, but I want you gone by daybreak."

Dropping him down to the floor, I watched dispassionately as he struggled for breath.

"We know everything, Senator Donovan. And I promise you, if you ever come near Max again, or take any kind of recourse…well." Squatting down to where he was still kneeling on the ground, I smiled sweetly. "You know who I am. I imagine you're also well aware of the fact that I can make your life very, very uncomfortable-and that, should I choose, not even our mutual friend will be able to salvage your career from the ruin that would be left behind." Pulling him to his feet, I passed him over to Emmett with an ungentle shove. "Officer Cullen will make sure you get to the airport and on the next available flight to DC. And Senator, it would behoove you to remember that our Chief of Police loves Max like a daughter. He's not going to help you."

With that I turned and walked away, leaving the boys to deal with the errant senator-and chuckling a little when I heard Paul pop his neck and snarl, just for good measure. He was in good hands, and there were other amends to be made. I'd put them off long enough.

The first thing I saw when I walked into Max's room was the shine of tears in the moonlight. She'd obviously cried herself to sleep, and the sight was as heartbreaking as the sight of Alice and Rosalie piled on the bed with her was charming. Both slipped quietly from the room when I stepped in, but Alice put her hand on my arm to stop me on her way out.

"Be careful with her," she said gently, eyes swimming with understanding. "She's fragile, and she's bent about as far as she can bend without breaking in two."

Gently perching on the edge of the bed I looked at the shivering figure under the blankets and sighed. Minding Alice's words I carefully reached out and pulled the covers up to her chin, taking pains not to wake her up. When my fingers brushed lightly across her damp skin, however, she reached up and caught my hand.

"Carlisle?" Her good eye blinked owlishly at me. The professional in me couldn't resist the urge to quickly check her over. Her pupils were responsive in the flickering light, and while the other eye wasn't bad, it was definitely swollen enough to make it uncomfortable the next morning.

Biting back the urge to change my mind and kill the man for that alone, I smiled.

"How are you feeling?" I asked softly, brushing strands of hair away from her sweaty face. She furrowed back into her pillow, eyes filling with tears all over again.

"I'm so sorry, Dr. C." One lone tear spilled over, trickling down her pale cheek. "I didn't mean for any of this to land on your doorstep."

"I know." Unable to resist temptation I toed off my own shoes and bumped her lightly with my hip. When she scooted back I laid down on my side and stretched, groaning with pleasure. It had been a very long day. Well, two days, technically, since it was about six in the morning at this point, but that was beside the point. Between chasing the children all day (who would have imagined a pack of humans could move that fast?), the party and that evening's upheaval, I was mentally, if not physically, exhausted. And that didn't even take into account the kick to the solar plexus I'd felt when Max came floating down my stairs that afternoon, looking for all the world like Cinderella on her way to the ball.

Jealousy was a low and common emotion. Pulling the woman lying next to me into my arms, feeling her shiver as she tucked herself tightly against me for comfort, if not warmth, I was completely consumed with it. Had the timing been different, had things occurred differently than they had, she might have been lying in her own bed, having this conversation wrapped around the man whose ring she wore. He should have been the one holding on to her tonight, and I couldn't help a brief, unreasonable flash of fury that he wasn't.

But then, I hadn't been there for her either, had I?

"I know you didn't mean to bring it here," I murmured into her hair, enjoying the way it tickled my nose when I rolled over to pull her tighter, "and I'm going to ask myself why every day for the rest of my very, very long life."

"Why what?"

Sleep was slowly starting to slur her speech. Good. A couple hours of sleep before the evening's festivities would be the best thing for her.

"Why you didn't tell me. Why you chose to carry this horrible burden by yourself rather than let us help you." Reaching out, I lightly cupped her chin in my hand. "We would have helped you, Maxine. You didn't have to go through this alone."

"I couldn't tell you," she whispered. "I'd promised, and…I couldn't stand to see the look on your face when I told you what I did." She stopped, sucking in a deep, shaky breath that nearly broke my heart. "There was nothing you could have done, and I wanted a little more time before you found out what I really was."

With a sigh I wrapped her up in her blankets, cuddling her close like a child and, because her wide-eyed disbelief demanded it, bent down and placed a light kiss at the end of her nose.

"I really don't know where you all get this opinion of me from. You were a child, Maxine. You did what you had to do to survive, and neither myself nor anyone else has a right to say a single word against you for it."They were almost exactly the same words I'd said to Emmett, and her eyes filled with the same tentative gratitude I'd seen in his. "But I promise you, after tonight, there won't be any more repeat performances."

It only took the beat of a single human heartbeat for her to put the pieces together. Pushing herself up on her elbow so she could look me in the eye, she asked suspiciously, "Oh god. What did you do?"

It had been a very long day. That's the only explanation I have for what happened next. The room was dark, with pale moonlight dancing like pearls against her skin. She was close enough now that every breath she took washed across my cheeks. In that moment everything faded away except for the night, the moonlight, and her, and almost before I realized what I was about to do I'd lowered my head and, achingly slowly, brushed my lips across hers.

Those lips were warm and soft, blending with the scent of vanilla to completely overwhelm my senses. One hand slipped up out of the blanket to press against my chest as she wriggled closer, and the mouth that had haunted my sweetest dreams and wildest fantasies for months lightly parted so I could drink in the feel of her without putting her in harm's way. With a low groan I tightened my arm around her, in no hurry to give up this long-awaited first-and probably last-taste of her.

Until she pulled back and yawned.

"Oops." Her voice was barely more than a murmur laced with a healthy dose of embarrassment as her eyelids drifted shut. "Sorry."

All I could do was laugh. "Go to sleep, little one," I said, amused, tucking her deeper into her blankets before sliding toward the edge of the bed. Before I got too far, however, the hand that had been lying on my chest gently fisted itself into the front of my shirt.

"Will you stay with me?"

The words, and the aching vulnerability in her tone, took me by surprise, but I settled back onto the bed. She immediately pushed irritably at my shoulder until I rolled onto my back, then snuggled up on my shoulder, leaving me to lie there and drink in the sensation of her sleeping in my arms while the sun climbed higher in the eastern sky.


	26. Max: Angels, Ghosts and St Nick

**Chapter 26**

**Christmas Morning at the Cullens'**

**Max**

Wakefulness came slowly that morning, filtered through an early morning fog that kept grabbing me and pulling me back under. I was dimly aware that I was still at the Cullens', my eyes flickering open to see the same white, swirly ceiling over my head, the same soft, cottony blue comforter wrapped around me to make a giant Max purrito. The same ratty sock slippers cushioned my toes where they wiggled under the blanket, the ones with the moose head that Alice gave me a few Christmases ago and I hadn't slept without since. But something was different, and that something was responsible for giving me a warm, fuzzy sense of well being that made me want to furrow in and stay there for just a little bit longer.

I couldn't put my finger on what that something was until I rolled over, snuggled back into my pillows and was immediately bathed in the warm, woodsy scent of Carlisle's cologne. Then the night before came rushing back in horrifying, Technicolor detail. The senator backing me into a corner. The Cullens appearing out of nowhere, rescuing me from what was undoubtedly going to be a very unpleasant experience when the man's testicles figured out I wasn't a scared teenager anymore. Spilling my dirty laundry in Carlisle's office to every vamp in the house.

I'd cried, until I was too tired to stand and walk. Someone-I think it was Emmett, but I'm not sure-picked me up and carried me back to my room, where Alice and Rosalie helped me get into my pajamas, brush my teeth and crawl into bed. I was out before my head hit the pillow.

After that, things got fuzzy. Carlisle came into the room, and snuggled-actually snuggled-up on the bed with me. A dream, of course. Only a dream. But it was promised me I wouldn't have to be afraid again. Then-wonder of wonders-he actually kissed me. And his lips were softer than I'd expected. And chilly. And when he'd pulled me tight I'd felt safer and more cherished than I'd ever felt in my life.

Then, of course, I'd all but mauled the poor man to get him to stay with me. Really. It was humiliating. At least it was just a dream.

I'd have been willing to cling to the dream just a little longer, just for the comfort of clinging to that feeling of being in his arms while I slept off the night, if it wasn't for the lingering smell of that cologne. That hadn't been there when I got up yesterday, which meant that he actually had come in last night-and made me wonder how much of what had happened had been dream, how much had been reality, and how much I needed to apologize for this morning.

This morning. Oh crap. It was Christmas, and if the sun outside my window meant anything I'd almost managed to sleep through the whole damn thing. Hopping out of bed, I quickly pulled on the housecoat that someone had thoughtfully left lying at the end of the bed (I didn't want to think too hard about who) and glanced at the clock. Ten am. Crap, crap and triple crap. Where were the kids?

Dumb question. Creeping carefully down the stairs, I winced at the cheerful chatter and the smell of bacon frying from the kitchen. Even though I was running on about five hours of sleep, the sharp slap of humiliation from the night before had chased away the usual morning cobwebs faster than your average cup of joe. No coffee for Max this morning, and I was desperately afraid I'd humiliate myself even more by throwing everything back up if I tried to eat.

The good news was, living in a house with a bunch of people who don't _need_ to sleep definitely had its perks. There was a pile of presents under the tree, so someone had remembered to put the gifts out for Santa. Looking out the window, I saw the "reindeer food" Bella had brought over from a class project at the school had been conscientiously cleared away, and I was surprised to see the tell-tale marks of sleigh runners running through the yard. No telling what had been pulling said sleigh, but it didn't matter. Neither one of the kids had ever had even this much of a Christmas. They were going to be thrilled.

The sight waiting for me in the kitchen brought tears to my eyes. Rosalie, dressed in a cheery red sweater and green plaid skirt, was making pancakes using the Christmas molds Bella had bought her last year. There was a pile of bacon and eggs sitting at on the counter next to her that made my stomach grumble before it remembered that it wasn't hungry, and even though she didn't look my way I saw Rosalie's lips quirk into a smile.

It was the sight at the table that really took my breath away though. Jasper and Alice were playing Old Maid with Kara. The little girl was still far too thin and still bore some of the remnants of the beating that had brought her to us, but she was sitting on her own on a stack of pillows that someone had brought out from the bedroom, tucked into a robe I'd never seen before and giggling so hard at something Jasper said she almost fell off. Alice's quick reflexes were the only thing that stopped her from going face first onto the floor.

Carlisle had Jeremy sitting on his lap and was showing him how to do a maze in the giant activity book he'd picked up from the table. Seeing the two of them together had me leaning against the door with a sigh. The whole group represented the kind of warm, supportive family environment I'd wanted to give these kids, and for just a second I let myself dream of what it could be like if I didn't have to take these guys away from here when the time came to go back to Seattle.

'If wishes were horses', I reminded myself wryly. It was enough to know that Rosalie, Alice, Emmett and Jasper didn't blame me for anything that had happened the night before-had, in fact, all separately and quietly offered to make the senator disappear if I was feeling so inclined. It had made me laugh, which in turn had made me cry even harder, because I really didn't deserve to have friends like that. They were just so insanely awesome. There were no words.

Of course, it was never Rosalie or Alice or Jasper I worried about. It was the sight of the man sitting at the table, smiling that blinding smile of his at the little boy laboriously moving his pen on a piece of paper, that had my knees wobbling and my heart beating a little harder in my chest. I started to step back out of the kitchen when his head turned around, his eyes pinning me into place like a pin through the thorax of an insect under glass. I couldn't stay. I couldn't leave. All I could do was stand there, my heart pounding in terror, while he slipped out of his seat with cat-like grace and, setting Jeremy down, walked over to me.

"Good morning." Slipping an arm around my waist, his thumb gently stroking the sash on the housecoat while we walked, Carlisle led me into the living room and away from the curious gaze of everyone sitting in his kitchen. He waited until we were out of sight then, backing up against the wall, used the arm he'd wrapped around me as leverage to gently spin me around and pull me tight against his hard chest. "How are you this morning?"

His other arm came up to pull me tighter, and without thinking I buried my face in the curve of his neck, resting my cheek against the warm green fleece on his shoulder and breathing in his comforting scent while a rush of gratitude nearly brought me to my knees. Apparently, we were okay. It was more than I'd dared to even hope for.

"I'm all right. Really," I added with a laugh as he tipped his head down and to the side so he could see my face, eyebrows raised and looking for all the world like a curious dog. "Absolutely humiliated that you had to see all that, but no one ever really died of embarrassment. No matter how much we've wanted to from time to time."

"The shame in this isn't yours Maxine. Remember that." His voice was gentle but fierce, the arm he'd looped around my hips tightening to pull us closer together while his other hand reached down to tip up my chin. I was suddenly awash in a feeling of déjà vu, spurred on by the proximity of those golden eyes and the sudden, furious pounding of my heart as his mouth hovered bare inches above mine.

'I need to stop having so much pizza before bed,' I thought dryly, struggling to keep my breathing even as hunger and anticipation flip-flopped through my stomach. 'When dreams start seeming this real, there's definitely something wrong with my head.'

Licking my lips nervously, and shuddering at the low growl that rumbled in his chest when I did, I murmured, "Um, about last night…"

It was as if someone flipped a switch. Carlisle froze instantly, hard muscles turning to granite, his face going carefully blank. For a few interminable seconds we just stood there, frozen, as though neither one of us was sure what to say or how to say it.

"Listen, I don't really remember much about you…coming into my room last night. I mean, I must have been more exhausted than I thought." I was babbling now, but I couldn't seem to stop myself. "I didn't even realize I hadn't dreamed the whole thing until I woke up this morning and, ah…"

Okay, I know telling someone you smelled them wasn't weird at all to a vampire. I wasn't human, so it felt a little creepy. But the curious look on his face prompted me to say, "The pillow on my bed still kind of smelled like your cologne. You know, the one Alice got you for Christmas last year? So I figured you'd actually been there. But I really don't remember what I said, or what I did, so, um, if I did anything horribly embarrassing I just want to apologize now."

I held my breath, waiting to see what he'd say. He just stared at me for a minute, his eyes anxiously searching my face as if he was trying to figure out if I was telling the truth or had just temporarily taken leave of my senses. Hard to say, since the two weren't mutually exclusive. The minute he realized I was being completely honest the air suddenly whooshed out of him, relaxing his neck, making his shoulders droop. Resting his chin on my head, I thought I heard him mutter, "It's just as well," before saying, "You apologized profusely for matters that were out of your hands, then fell asleep. Nothing else to remember."

A niggling little voice in the back of my mind was suggesting that that might not be quite true, but I had the answer to at least one question. He'd have told me if I'd planted a lip lock on him in my sleep, wouldn't he? I mean, I'd been known to do some freaky things in my sleep. Jaz will never let me live down the time I dropped an underwear chain out the window of our dorm in the middle of the night. I didn't remember doing it the next morning, and I was royally pissed when I couldn't find a pair of clean underwear. So it would have been embarrassing, if not necessarily surprising, to find out I'd forgotten yet another epically humiliating moment in my sleep.

Of course, what was I supposed to say now? "Oh. Okay. Well, good. I mean…"

Saved by the bell…s. Alice poked her head around the doorway, her bouncy face lit up in delight, the bells on her perky ponytails keeping time with the ones that lined her sweater…and her belt…and the cuffs of her jeans…and her shoes. She was one giant jingle bell. I was going to have a massive migraine by the end of the day.

Then I realized I was still wrapped around Carlisle like a vine and jerked back, embarrassed. Funny how a little thing like a hug feels a lot less innocent after a couple of salacious fantasies in the wee hours of the night. I wondered what Alice would say if I admitted I'd given a slightly more than passing thought to getting her vampire daddy naked. Whatever else they were, the Cullens were a family. And while I didn't hold my own case up as anything resembling normal, I know Bella had moaned more than once about walking in on Sue and Charlie-and that was _years_ after she started doing the wild thing with Jake.

Alice laughed, the sound tickling my ears with the same tinkle as the bells on her bouncing feet. "He's here," she said mischievously, ducking back into the kitchen. Carlisle looked over at me, sticking his hands in the pockets of his jeans and giving me a lopsided grin that managed to look sheepish and adorable at the same time.

"If you want a cup of coffee, you might want to get it now."

"Why?"

Then I heard a booming "Ho ho ho!" from the kitchen coming from a very, very familiar voice. Slowly the corners of my mouth stretched up, until my entire face felt like it was going to split in two. "You didn't." Dashing over, I peeked around the corner, my smile spreading even further at the sight of the man cheerfully bouncing Jeremy on his red velvet hip with one hand and holding a huge red sack over his shoulder with the other. "Oh my god, you did."

Emmett grinned toothily behind his white, fluffy Santa Claus beard. He looked every inch the part of the benevolent benefactor, from the top of his fluffy hat to the toes of his well polished boots. Even his middle looked appropriately round, and having seen (and appreciated ) Emmett's washboard abs more than once, that may have qualified as a miracle of modern engineering.

But it wasn't Emmett that caught and held my eye. It was the tall, slender man in green standing next to him. From the tips of his pointy hat to the black belt holding his green flannel tunic in place to the toes of his stripy socks and jingly elf shoes, he was everything Santa's helper ought to be. But those were Edward's eyes staring out at me, sparkling with mirth, from beneath the brim of his elfin headwear.

"You set this up, didn't you?" I murmured under my breath, jumping when Carlisle gently laid a hand between my shoulder blades.

"It was Edward's idea, actually. He had the costumes, and we all thought the children were overdue for a proper holiday. He wasn't entirely certain he was going to make it in last night though, so I didn't want to say anything until we knew for sure." A warm smile curled his lips at the sight of Jeremy excitedly tugging on Emmett's shoulder to get his attention, while Edward went and knelt in front of Kara. Then shrieks of excitement greeted an endless stream of gifts from Santa's bottomless bag of Christmas cheer.

Chaos ensued. Presents were disbursed and opened around plates of pancakes-and not just for the kids, either. Then he and his elf waved goodbye and left, and not five minutes later Emmett reappeared in the living room, his arm wrapped around mom, who was looking perfectly put together in a cranberry skirt suit and Christmas pin, followed shortly by Edward knocking lightly on the front door.

Mom smiled and hugged me hello, murmuring something about Dad going back to DC on the early flight (but wishing everyone a very merry Christmas). She sounded pissed, but she wasn't apoplectic. I was assuming she was fuming about his workaholic tendencies but didn't actually know what happened last night. Memories of my dream conversation last night came back to me, and I flushed a little as my eyes skipped to where Dr. C was helping Kara get her doll out of the packing. He'd said I wouldn't have to worry about a repeat performance, and while I wasn't certain whether he'd actually said it or if it had just been a product of my fevered, frightened imagination, I knew. Now that he knew the truth, he wouldn't let the senator lay a hand on me while I was in his house. That was just Carlisle.

More wrapped packages were pulled out from under the tree and passed around. Emmett mowed through his maniacally, while Alice serenely peeled the tape off one piece at a time. She probably already knew what was in them, although she swore up and down that she did her best to stay out of everyone's minds when they were doing their Christmas shopping. But all she had to do was look ahead to Christmas morning. So I'd bought her two, a piece of tacky costume jewelry she could open this morning and a collection of DVDs she'd been slobbering over for dinner that night. Jake and Bella were coming too, which meant between Jake and Billy her vision would be fuzzy at best and we'd have a fighting chance at surprising her for the first Christmas in history.

Nick wandered in at some point, and looked a little teary when Alice and Rosalie immediately sat him down and started piling presents on his lap. I guess a couple of decades on your own makes it a little weird when people actually include you in their holidays, but the girls had done their best to make up for lost time.

Fortunately I'd stopped to pick up something for Edward, just in case, or I'd feel like a real jerk right now. I honestly hadn't expected him to show up this year, knowing he'd asked Bella to stay and she'd turned him down (again-you'd think spending the better part of a decade apart would have made her point) and that Bella, Jake and their family were going to be here. On the other hand, he was Carlisle's son, and this was the only family he had. I could have come up with some excuse and spent the day alone, in my apartment in Seattle, away from the warmth and happiness of this little group, but I hadn't wanted to. Edward probably felt the same way about that big house in Italy.

"Max! Heads up!" A football came flying out of nowhere toward my head at speeds just slightly faster than human, but not so much so that the humans in the room would notice. I was grateful for Edward, who plucked the ball out of the air seconds before it would have smashed into my face.

"Are you okay?" He whipped the ball back.

"Yeah, I'm good." I stuck my tongue out at the barbarian lounging back on the couch, one arm wrapped around his wife. "I knew I was going to regret buying him that stupid ball, but he was so heartbroken after he broke the last one that…"

"Yeah." Edward grinned at his brother. "He's something, isn't he?"

"Oh, he's something alright," I grumbled, knowing he was listening in on every word I said. "Maybe one of these days I'll actually manage to poke him with enough needles to figure out what that is."

We both laughed at Emmett's instinctive cringe, which earned him a punch from his wife, who was showing off the negligee Alice and I had both picked out for her for the holiday. Guess I knew someone who was going to be sleeping outside tonight.

Then Alice stood up on the back of the couch (a display of inhuman grace it would be very, very easy to hate her for), stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled.

"Holidays are for family," she began, her voice carrying off the vaulted ceiling as silence fell across the room. "As wonderful as you all are, I don't think any one of us has forgotten those that are no longer here. The empty seat at the table, the holidays we're never going to share again." Her voice cracked. "Esme was…is…a huge part of our lives. She loved celebrating Christmas, even when there was very little to celebrate, and somehow she always managed to make it special. I know we all feel her loss. Especially you, Carlisle."

Every eye in the room turned to the man crouching on the floor, his hand resting on a child's tousled head, his expression wary as he slowly stood and stared at his daughter. Hopping down off the couch, Alice walked over and slipped her arm around him.

"We have a present for you."

On cue, everyone in the room gathered their shoes and coats. Handing Kara to Edward, I popped Jeremy on my hip to follow the rest of the Cullens out the door and into the woods.

"What's going on?" whispered mom while we made our trek out to the shady, dappled spot we'd picked out only a couple of days before.

"We all chipped in to get a Christmas present for Carlisle." It was all I could say, but when we stepped into the clearing and saw the suspicious shine in his eyes, the grief and gratitude written on his face as he stared at the stone towering up to the sky, it was all that needed to be said.

"This was her favorite spot," he whispered, reaching out to lightly touch the hand that reached out to him. The project had been hatched when they'd been in Italy, a memorial to the woman who'd loved them all. Emmett had picked out the smooth white marble laced through with shots of pink. Jasper, Edward and Alice had carved the stone into an angel that wore Esme's face. Rosalie had spent hours smoothing out the rough spots and doing the fine detail, and the end result was stunning. It was as though Esme herself was standing in the woods smiling back at us.

Alice reached out and squeezed his hand. "We couldn't bury her, but we thought she deserved to be remembered."

Carlisle pulled his daughter in for a hug, the rest of the family piling in around him. Mom reached out and took Kara so Edward could join the group, and without saying a word we slowly walked back to the house. I still felt blessed that Alice had asked me to come out with them to show this to Carlisle, even though I wasn't family, not really. But they deserved a few minutes of privacy to grieve together and remember the woman they'd all loved.

An aura of peace hung over the house when they got back that hadn't been there before, one I hadn't even realized was missing until it was back again. It was as though an empty piece had been found and put back in the puzzle, and now everyone was whole again. Except for Carlisle. He still laughed and joked with the kids, who were happily camped on the living room floor with a pile of toys so deep and thick you could barely see the carpet, still chatted politely with mom, still helped Rosalie chop vegetables in the kitchen while arguing with Emmett about yesterday's football game (I didn't even know the man watched football), but it was like he wasn't there.

For the past month or so I'd started to see the old Carlisle, the one we'd all known and loved before Esme's death had knocked the stuffing out of him. Looking at him today, as his eyes raced restlessly around the room and he never quite settled into anything, it was like somebody had turned back the clock. He reminded me, too much, of the quiet, withdrawn man who had come to see me in Seattle over the summer, and I didn't like it one little bit.

We'd barely gotten him back., I wasn't going to lose him again. So when he slipped out the back door and stepped onto the porch I didn't think twice about listening to that none-too-gentle nudging in my stomach and following him out.

"Hey," I said softly, walking up beside him and leaning my head on his shoulder, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He smiled, the stiff expression doing absolutely nothing to hide the turbulence raging in those whiskey orbs. One hand lifted automatically to sit at the small of my back. "It was a shock, to see her, to touch her again, even if only in marble. I'd nearly resigned myself to the fact that I was never going to do that again.

That's what was wrong, I realized. He'd been off since we got back from Esme's memorial. For him, it was probably like finding her and losing her all over again. When Alice had first told me about it, I thought maybe it would help him to let go if he still had a small piece of her to hold on to. Now, I was starting to think maybe we should have left well enough alone.

"It was a bad idea, wasn't it?"

He glanced down in surprise, the first time he'd really looked at me since I came out there. His arm tightened to pull me in, just a little, and I realized he'd actually forgotten I was there. Wow. Way to feel special.

"No. No, it's lovely, and it means so much knowing it came from the children. But…" His voice trailed off. Turning so we were facing each other, the arm on my back sliding so his hand was resting on my hip, he reached up and lightly trailed his fingers down my cheek. "I'm tired of surviving, surrounded by death. I want to live again."

The blank look in his eyes slowly morphed into something warm, something that looked suspiciously like affection mixed with regret while the strange electricity that had danced between us since that day in the snow sparked, then flared. Before I knew was I was doing I had taken a step forward and, when those fingers spread to lightly cup the side of my face, closed my eyes and rubbed against his calloused palms like a cat looking for a good scratch.

"Max…" The word was strangled, soft and raspy. Opening my eyes, I found myself looking straight into his, and he was asking, almost pleading, for something. Before I could figure out what it was, however, a door banged open behind us.

"Max, you're never going to believe who…oh." Eyes wide, Rosalie took in the way we were standing, her gaze darting between me and Carlisle and back again. Carlisle slowly slipped his hand down my cheek, his fingertips lightly brushing the side of my neck before he stepped back, leaving me to suck in the first steady breath I'd taken since we got out there.

"What is it, Rosalie?"

The words were full of resignation and impatience, neither one of which I'd heard recently leaving his lips. Rosalie's eyes got even wider, if that was possible, and she licked her lips nervously before saying, "Ah, I just wanted to tell you that Jack's here."


	27. Jake: Christmas with Edward

**Chapter 27**

**Christmas Day**

**Forks**

**Jacob**

"Bella! Move that pretty little ass of yours or there's not going to be anything left!"

A soft voice snarled something less than complimentary under her breath that I probably wasn't supposed to hear. Funny how such a pretty mouth could say such evil, evil things. I was fairly certain she wasn't _actually _going to neuter me.

But I shut up, just in case.

That wasn't going to last long if she didn't get a move on though. We were already almost half an hour late for dinner at the Cullens'. I figured Alice had probably compensated for Bella's tendency to take for-freaking-ever getting ready to go anywhere when she told us what time to be there, but that didn't make it any easier. I was hungry, damn it. It was time to go.

Then Bella stepped out onto the top of the stairs and any bitching I might have done went out the window, along with most of my brain cells and any and all desire to head over to the Cullens' any time in the next century or two. The little black dress and black shoes weren't anything special, but having two kids had filled out her scrawny little body in all the right places. I was pretty sure my tongue was draped somewhere in the vicinity of my shoes.

From the wicked smile on her face, she knew it too.

"Ready to roll, sir!" She snapped off a salute, tilting that perky little nose of hers up in my general direction. Grinning my most lascivious grin I pulled her over and dipped my head, nibbling on those rosy painted lips-only to jerk my head back at the acrid taste of lipstick that was now all over my mouth.

"Ugh. Why the hell would anyone make something that looks that good taste that nasty?" Seriously. A woman showed up looking that red and rosy, a wolf just had to take a bite. Wasn't fair that we got a mouthful of nastiness for showing our genuine appreciation of the fact that they were all dolled up. Wasn't that what they were going for?

"So we'll still have it on at the end of the night," she said with a smirk, leaning forward to kiss my cheek, then rubbing away the lip-prints she left behind. "It's supposed to _look_ good, not taste good. That way we both spend less time eating it off."

"Well, it works." A little too well. Cruel and unusual punishment was what it was. All right, maybe this could still be salvaged. I'd just avoid her lips. Bending down, and hoping my back wasn't going to develop a crick from being bent almost double, I lightly ran my lips along the collarbone left bare by that pitiful excuse for a dress. "How long do you think Charlie and Sue will entertain the kids?"

"Not that long." Bella laughed, tipping her head back before easing away. "Besides, we don't want to miss dinner. Like you said, we wait too long, there's not going to be anything left."

"Won't be that bad." Rubbing my tongue surreptitiously across my teeth, I tried to get rid of the nasty aftertaste of her perfume after giving in to the urge to lap behind her ear. God. The woman was a walking booby-trap. I was starting to suspect she did it on purpose. "It's just us, Sue and your dad, Seth and the Cullens, right?"

"And Max and the kids," Bella agreed.

Now, normally the conversation would have ended right there, but she turned to grab her purse just as she said it. Frowning, I reached out, caught her arm and turned her back to face me. She tossed her hair back, smiling brightly, but her fingers nervously fingered the shoulder strap of her purse.

After being in love with the woman for most of my life, I was intimately acquainted with Bella's little signals. There was something she didn't want to tell me.

Max had called earlier-to confirm dinner, I'd assumed. Of course, I hadn't really bothered paying attention either. Sue and Charlie had bought Billy a bicycle for Christmas. Being part wolf apparently had its advantages, because he'd spent the rest of the day racing it down the halls-after he used his fingers to take the training wheels off. Sue just sniggered, remembering Seth's tendency to rip apart everything in the house, but Bella wasn't amused. Who gives a kid a bike when it's too cold to ride it outside, anyway?

Sadistic grandparents, that's who. I was too busy keeping him from breaking everything in the house to pay attention to the phone after I figured out it was just Max. That was a decision I was starting to regret.

"Bells, what's going on?"

She sighed, her smile growing a little rueful. "It's nothing, really. Let's go."

Stepping back, her eyebrows knit together when she looked down and saw I was still holding her arm. Seriously? She thought after all these years I was going to buy that?

"Bella…"

"Okay, fine. But it's stupid." Tipping her head to the side, she shrugged. "Edward's here. He came in last night to spend the holidays with Carlisle."

Fan-fucking-tabulous. I wasn't surprised. I really wasn't. He was Carlisle's kid, after all. Dad had always told us that he didn't give a rat's ass what we did the rest of the year, but our butts had better be glued into those rickety chairs sitting around his table when it was time for Christmas dinner.

I didn't care that he was in town to see his family. Except…

Except I had what he wanted-everything he wanted. Bella. A family. A normal life. And he couldn't stand it. As hard as I tried, I couldn't quite ignore the nasty little bites of jealousy nibbling at the back of my throat at the thought of having to share the same breathing space with him, knowing all she had to do was breathe the word and he'd have my wife on a plane and off to live in his undead lap of luxury.

But I couldn't tell Bella that. She'd just go off on how I needed to get along with him (which I did) and how I needed to understand that Edward had lost something when they broke up too (which I didn't) and that I didn't have a thing to worry about (which she was insane if she thought I was going to believe). So I ground my teeth, ignored the urge to plop my butt on the couch and refuse to move for the next millennia or so until the bloodsucker put himself on a plane and got the hell out of my town, and said, "Bet Carlisle's happy about that."

It obviously wasn't what she'd been expecting.

"Um…yeah. Yeah, Max said he was pretty thrilled. " She studied me closely. "You're okay with that?"

"Sure." I shrugged one shoulder in a way that I hoped looked nonchalant and not like I needed to move before I gave in and broke something. "He's part of the family, right? It's only right he should be here for Christmas. Any word on whether Embry and Andy are going to be there?"

The subject change was deliberate, designed to give me a little breathing space, but as soon as I said it I realized it was a legitimate question. I hadn't seen Andy for more than five minutes at a time since she showed up looking for Embry. That had been almost a week ago. She'd come and gone from the shop a couple of times, and I'd seen them talking quietly without any overt signs of impending violence from either one of them (which, since it meant I didn't have to go break up the fight, was a Christmas miracle in and of itself). But since Embry was still living in my guest room I guessed things weren't going quite as well as he'd hoped.

He, of course, was being a closed-mouthed son-of-a-bitch about the whole thing. I couldn't even pick up anything when he phased, and it was driving me nuts.

"Nobody said anything about it when we went shopping for Max's dress, but I know they have an open invite. They'll either show or they won't." Bella reached out to straighten my collar, giggling a little when I squirmed. I really, really hated dressing up. I'd gotten to slide out of it the night before. The Christmas Eve party at the Cullens' always got a little rowdy, since we had the whole pack in tow, so I didn't have to worry about what I looked like. It was gonna be trashed by the end of the night anyway. But Christmas dinner under Sue's wrathful eye was a different story altogether.

"Why are we having dinner over there this year anyway?" I griped. "I mean, I get the whole Christmas Eve thing. Theirs is the only place we can all fit into without ending up piled on top of each other. But I don't get why the people that can't eat are insisting on having Christmas dinner over there instead of at your dad's."

"Because even though Kara's doing a lot better, she's still not getting around very well."Bella had the long-suffering tone of a woman who'd explained this a hundred times. Which she probably had. Oops. "Carlisle thought it would be better if she stayed put, but he didn't want Jeremy or the Donovans to miss out on the celebration. And he knew Max wouldn't go anywhere if Kara couldn't come too. So he talked to Sue, and voila! Christmas at the Cullens'." Finally satisfied, she popped up on her toes and gave me a quick kiss on the nose. "And dinner's going to be cold if we don't get a move on, so let's go."

I spent most of the drive out to the edge of La Push trying to find the flaw in her logic. Sadly, I couldn't find it. She was right, there was no way Max would come out to Charlie's if Kara couldn't come, and I knew she and Bella would be upset if they didn't get to spend the holiday together. It was sort of a tradition whenever Max wasn't in D.C. Which happened an awful lot. Although knowing what I now knew about Max's foster family I could definitely understand why she spent more holidays at our table than theirs. Tossing her so-called dad in the back of Emmett's cruiser for that loooooooong ride to the airport had been a pure pleasure. So had getting to watch the sweat dribbling down the man's face when I told Paul to go along for the ride-after swearing up and down that I'd stop by and explain the whole thing to Rachel.

The wrath that my darling, wonderful sister sent raining down on my head when I told her Paul was going to be late for Christmas was vividly fresh twelve long hours later. So were the nasty looks she gave me when she stopped by to drop off the presents for the kids on her way out to Sam's. Next time I was going to tie the man up and stuff him in my basement until the holidays were over. It just wasn't worth it.

Speaking of which…

"Were you ever going to tell me about Max's dad?"

"What about him?" Her voice was innocently clueless, but I caught the way her shoulders tightened. Oh, Bella, Bella, Bella…

"You're a horrible liar, Bells." Reaching over, I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed. "Emmett said they caught him trying to get his jollies last night after everyone had gone. If Alice hadn't told them to come back…"

My voice trailed off, leaving all the possibilities floating around out there. It still burned my ass to think that all these years Bella hadn't said a thing to any of us. I got Max not saying anything about it. Emmett had shared some of the filth the slimy bastard had told them. I was kinda surprised Paul managed to make it all the way to the airport without killing him, to tell you the truth. I wasn't entirely sure that hadn't subconsciously been my intention when I picked Paul to be the one to ride along.

No one would have cared.

No clue why Jaz didn't bother to mention it. Or why she didn't just have her people deal with it. Eli would have had less of a problem killing him than I did. That man was scary. But she wasn't my problem. Bella knew that one of us would have dealt with the man if we'd known. As much as it pained me to admit it, I probably didn't have enough clout to do anything lasting to him that wasn't going to land me in jail, but Carlisle could have handled it. Would handle it now that he knew, I was sure. And he could have done it a long time ago.

If nothing else, she could have warned us before the man dropped in and decided to be part of our happy little family celebration.

Bella bit nervously at her bottom lip, guilt written all over her face.

"I wanted to, but Max made me promise. Said she had it taken care of. And she never said anything else, so I figured…" She looked up at me. "I should have done it anyway, shouldn't I?"

"Yeah. Yeah, you really should. We could have run the bastard out of town a long time ago if you had." She looked so forlorn that I cracked, pulling her closer so her head rested on my shoulder and planting a kiss in her hair. "You know what? It doesn't matter. We took care of it."

"How…?"

Should I get into a rundown on last night's activities? Nah. Not right now. Edward was enough misery for one night.

"Let's just say he's not going to be back any time soon and leave it at that."

I didn't know that for a fact, but she brightened up so I figured it must have been the right thing to say. And it was probably true. Knowing Emmett and Paul, his trip to the airport would have been the stuff of legends. I'd have to patrol with Paul later on, just so I could get the whole story first hand. Those images would keep me smiling for weeks.

That smile didn't last much farther than the Cullens' front door, when I found myself face-to-face with Captain Incredible himself.

"I'll take that as a compliment."A smile spreading across that smarmy face of his, he opened up his arms and squeezed Bella tight. Have I mentioned how much I DIDN'T miss having somebody poking through my head every five minutes? "Bella, everyone else is inside. I need to have a word with Jacob. Alone," he added when she opened her mouth to argue. I waited for her to tell him to stuff it, but she didn't. Instead she just looked between us, then nodded and headed inside. But not before she'd poked her head up over Edward's shoulder and mouthed, "Behave."

What did she think I was going to do, rip his head off right in front of the house where the rest of his family was feeding us Christmas dinner? I wasn't that much of an animal, thank you very much. I'd learned a few things in the decade or so since I'd had to put up with that smug, smarmy face every day. But he wasn't looking very smug when he led me toward the edge of the woods, out of hearing range of the house.

Still smarmy, but not very smug.

"Why did you agree to do it?" he asked softly.

"Why did I agree to do what?"

"Carlisle. Don't even bother trying to deny it," he added dryly. All right. "You know why he asked you to do it. You know he's not well. What could _possibly_ have possessed you to say yes to such a _ludicrous_ request?"

The calm control that I'd always despised was starting to slip. He was pissed. And not just a little. I'd had a feeling Carlisle hadn't bothered to fill the rest of his family in on his plans to remove himself from this despised immortal plain, etc, etc., and that I was going to catch some flak for it sooner or later. I was just hoping it was going to be later rather than sooner.

But I found it incredibly ironic that I was having this conversation with the same bloodsucker who threatened to kill himself when he thought Bella was dead.

"Hypocritical, much?" He snapped, the iced fury on his face almost making me take a step back. Almost. But not quite. "What? It's okay for you to threaten to kill yourself because Bella, who you'd barely known a year, _might _be dead, but Carlisle's not allowed to decide he's had enough after the woman he spent the last eighty years with gets charbroiled right in front of his eyes? He's got a few centuries on you, leech, I think the man's old enough to make up his own mind."

"What happened with Bella and I has no bearing on this." The mask of civility was slowly peeling away. Sweet. I might get a decent fight out of this after all.

"Bullshit. It has everything to do with this." I was rolling now. "You've spent the last sixteen years wallowing in this great tragic love story of yours. You got Bella. You left Bella. You tried to kill yourself when you thought you might not be able to have Bella anymore. You got Bella back. Then you let Bella go. And you've spent the last ten years wallowing in the fact that Bella dumped you, and everyone's letting you do it. You know what? Grow the fuck up.

"If you'd bothered to stick around instead of moping in Italy, you'd know that Carlisle hasn't been himself since Esme died. Not even close. So if he's decided he's had enough, there's nothing to stick around for and he's ready for a little bit of peace, I'd say he's earned it, wouldn't you?"

Edward just glared at me for a minute. I braced myself for the lunge, eager to let off some of the pent up rage that was trembling through my hands. I couldn't kill him…but it was amazing what a vampire could live through. Unfortunately, that lunge never came. Instead, he pulled himself back in with a superhuman show of will, turned around and walked toward the woods, dragging his fingers through his hair.

"You're right," he finally said, after an eternity of staring at the trees. Probably trying to reel in the urge to kill something, anything, to make himself feel better. As much as it pained me to admit it, I knew how he felt. I'd felt the same way after Billy died. It didn't matter what age you were, losing a father sucks. I could almost feel sorry for him. "I haven't been a very good son these last couple of years."

Almost.

"Ya think?"

He drew in a deep, shuddering breath and I watched my chances of getting to let off a little steam go flying through the window.

"There are days I would…prefer…not to spend so much time in other people's minds." He was choosing his words carefully now. Go figure. "Carlisle's mind isn't a healthy place to be right now, but I think you're wrong about him not having reasons to stick around. He's finding them. Slowly, but he's finding them. And he's starting to realize it. Just…" Sticking his hands in his pockets, he looked down at his feet. "He doesn't want this, Jacob, not really. Please don't let him do anything rash."

With that he turned and walked back inside, leaving me staring after him while I tried to figure out what the fuck just happened. And why part of me was so damn happy about it.


	28. Bella: I Didn't Ask for This

**Chapter 28**

**Christmas at the Cullens'**

**Bella**

"Did somebody die?"

I don't know why I bothered leaning over and whispering in a house full of people that could literally hear a pin drop up to a mile away, but it felt appropriate in light of the solemn atmosphere and forced cheer that was practically seeping out of the pores of everyone sitting around the dinner table at the Cullen family Christmas. Edward and Jacob were glaring at each other across the table. Max was sitting next to her fiancé, looking like anything but a happy bride to be. Carlisle was his usual polite self, but there was no real warmth behind the forced cheer on his face. Emmett and Rose were fawning over Kara, lost in their own little world. Alice and Jasper were on my right, and they'd both been almost perfectly silent since we got here.

I didn't even know Alice knew _how _to be that quiet.

The only ones acting anything resembling normal were Charlie, who looked just as uncomfortable in a shirt and tie as he usually did (wonder how long Sue nagged him to make that one happen), and Sue and Mrs. Donovan, who hadn't stopped talking since I'd been there.

"It's been an…interesting day," Alice whispered back, looking around the table. Seeing that most people were done with their food and were now just lingering over coffee as an excuse not to get up and start the dishes, she caught me by the arm. "Take a walk with me."

"What? Why?"

Alice wouldn't answer me, just disappeared and reappeared a minute later, handing me my coat. You'd think I'd be used to people moving at vampire speed by now. I wasn't. As soon as she saw me pulling my coat on, Max sprang to her feet.

"I'll come out with you guys."

"Oh." Jack frowned down at his half-eaten pie, then shrugged. "Well, I guess I can come too."

"No babe, it's okay. Finish your coffee. Just a little bit of girl talk, that's all." Max smiled down at him, but there was an underlying air of desperation in her voice that I was pretty sure nobody who knew her well could miss. I noticed her eyes shot to Carlisle, who was very carefully not looking at her. Oh boy. Looked like more went down last night than I thought. Jake said Carlisle had been happy to show her dad to the door, and that he wasn't holding any of this against Max herself. Had something changed since then?

Max's mom looked down the table and beamed beatifically at her future son-in-law. "You know how women are Jack. Before my wedding I was always closeted in with some girlfriend or another, talking about shoes and clothes and hair and makeup and other such nonsense. Poor Hank barely saw me." Picking up her coffee, she walked around the table and slid into Max's seat, giving her daughter a quick wink. "Why don't we let Max go outside with Bella and Alice and you and I will get to know each other a little better?"

Max looked at me and rolled her eyes, but she happily took advantage of the diversion her mom offered to scoop up her coat and all but bolt out of the room.

"You're lucky your mom likes him." Alice's voice was just a little wistful. Me, I was busy cursing about the snow I'd managed to dump into my heels. There were things I would have liked about becoming a vampire. Like being able to perch cheerfully on the railing of the Cullens' back porch, completely avoiding the piles of the cold, wet slush that were lying around every which way from Sunday. My feet would be a whole lot warmer. "I would have loved to have had a mother to introduce Jasper too."

"She'd have probably tried to steal him away from you. Then you wouldn't have a leg to stand on next time you go up against them both." With a sigh, Max slumped against the railing Alice was standing on. "I'm glad she likes him, but there are times I wish she liked him just a little bit less, you know?"

"I hear you. Renee's just as bad," I explained when Max looked over at me in surprise. "She flirts with Jake like there was no tomorrow. I think it has something to do with the fact that he's a younger man, and therefore has the ability to make her feel like she's twenty years younger. And let's face it Max, your mom's not exactly ancient. It doesn't surprise me in the least that she's managed to pick up a younger man to flirt with."

"Oh, don't even say those words out loud." Max groaned, plopping her face (complete with its black leather beret) in her hands. "It's bad enough that I feel like she's trying to auction me off to the highest bidder. Now I have to have the mental image of her trying to date my boyfriends to boot?"

"Hey, your mental image, not mine." Comfortable now that the snow had melted and my toes were satisfactorily numb, I propped my elbows back on the railing and grinned over at my best friend. "Me, all I have to do is sit back and enjoy."

"If you can enjoy with Jacob and Edward at each other's throats." At my look of surprise, Alice smiled a boys-will-be-boys-and-what-are-you-going-to-do-about-it kind of smile. "I heard most of their conversation earlier. It was…interesting."

"Oh lord. What were they arguing about this time?"

It was supposed to be a joke, but the truth was, Jacob's continued animosity toward Edward concerned me. I could understand it in the beginning. He and Edward had been rivals for a long time, at least from Jacob's point of view. But by this point, what did he have to fight with him about? Edward was the one who was losing out here. It simply didn't seem healthy for a grown man to hold a grudge that long.

Edward had a slightly different take on it…but hey, it was easy to be philosophical about these things when you'd already seen the better part of a century go by, right? And he _still_ carried a grudge about the way Jacob had swept in and swept me off my feet. Good lord. What was it with men? Why did they feel the need to beat their chests and carry on these ridiculous rivalries for _years_ past the time they should have been done with it?

"I think they worked it out." Whatever it was, Alice wasn't happy about it, but she had her stubborn face on again. The one that said she wasn't going to say anything else about it until she was darn well ready. Which, if I knew Alice, meant that she actually _had_ heard their entire conversation and just wasn't going to tell me about it. Which was more than a little bit perturbing.

Before I had the chance to pump her for more details, however, she turned to Max. "Actually, I was kind of hoping we'd be able to rope you alone. You look…less than impressed with the fact that Jack took the time to show up for the holidays. What's going on?"

Max sighed, slumping a little farther against the railing and staring disinterestedly at the fog of breath in the air. "I'm happy he's here. I am," she insisted when Alice arched an eyebrow in her direction. "It was highly awesome that he took the time to drive up here from New Mexico, completely abandoning his mother on Christmas, so he could take part in the family holidays I'd kind of planned on spending with you guys, thereby making me pay attention to him instead of getting to sit back and chillax the way I'd planned."

"Not that you're bitter," Alice said wryly.

"What did Jack say about Kara and Jeremy?" That was the one all of us had been wondering about, since I was pretty sure, knowing Max, it wouldn't have occurred to her that he would have an opinion on the matter other than blind obedience.

"Ugh. I don't even want to talk about it."

"He wasn't cool with you taking the kids?" I frowned, spinning the wheels in my head back. "He knows you're a foster parent, right? I mean, he had to have known it was going to happen."

"Oh, he knew all right. He was just of the opinion that since we're getting married at some point between now and death, I should have consulted him on it before I'd said yes." She rolled her eyes. "Like I was going to leave Kara lying in that hospital a minute longer than I had to while I tracked him down at his mother's house. Knowing my luck, she'd have kept me on hold until Valentine's Day. The woman hates me."

"Can't imagine why." Alice snorted in laughter while Max opened her mouth, then tipped her head to the side in acknowledgement. Point.

The first time Max had met Jack's mother she'd been coming off a fourteen hour shift at the ER and, in her plain scrubs, with her hair slicked back and barely a drop of makeup to be found, looked like every mother's dream of the professional woman. The second time she'd been invited over to dinner and had shown up in her usual leather and lace, sporting a mini-skirt that would have made J-Lo blush with shame. Jack's mother hadn't been amused. Max had told her where to stick it, punctuating the statement by taking off her heavy silver dog collar and putting it on the family's very prissy poodle, claiming it was time the damn thing got some personality.

Having heard Jack complain about the little ankle-biter, I didn't doubt for a minute that the makeover was an improvement. But his mother wasn't amused, and the two had maintained an uncertain peace ever since.

"Oh god. Jack said she almost blew an aneurysm when he told her about the engagement. I wish I could have seen it."

"Jesus Max. You're supposed to get along with your mother-in-law, remember? If nothing else, it helps keep the peace at family dinners."

"That, my friend, is a common misconception." She looked at me and grinned, the devil lighting up in her eyes. "I'm actually supposed to hate her. We're supposed to have this glorious rivalry that's going to drag on until she's too old to pee by herself, at which point she's going to move in with us and I'm going to start working ridiculous amounts of overtime to avoid giving in to the temptation to smother her in her sleep."

"Well, as long as you've got it all worked out."

Max snorted, then sobered. "All right, seriously?" She looked from me to Alice, her smile slipping, turning wry. "I wasn't planning on seeing him until New Year's, and I was kind of looking forward to just spending the holidays hanging out with you guys. Now I'm going to have to entertain him when I'm not working instead, and it kind of pisses me off."

"You know Max, if you do get married Jack's going to be around for moments like this." Ah, Alice and her eternal practicality. "We're happy to have him here too, you know. Hey!" Her face brightened. "I know everything's closed up tonight, but what if we get Sue and Charlie to watch the kids tomorrow night and we all go catch a movie in Port Angeles?"

"I have to work," Max said immediately.

Alice sighed, shaking her head. "I'm pretty sure, under the circumstances, Carlisle will be happy to cover for you."

The words themselves didn't mean much. Of course Carlisle would cover for her so she could spend a little time with her fiancé. He was a nice guy like that. So I would have completely missed the underlying message in that simple sentence if I hadn't heard Max's quick intake of breath.

What. The hell. Was going on?

"Carlisle already had to cover for me so I could go dress shopping yesterday," Max said finally, breaking their strange stare-off to look down at her shoes. "He shouldn't have to do it again. That's not what he's paying me for."

"Oh please. If he'd had to actually hire another doctor to come in here, just to handle his human patients, he'd be paying them a whole lot more for doing a whole lot less, and you know it." Alice eyed Max appraisingly. "Jaz gets compensated for it. You don't. So unless there's another reason you don't want to leave him in charge of the clinic after hours for a few hours while you take the man you're going to marry out to the movies…"

"Okay, I don't know what I'm missing here, but you guys seriously need to stop talking over my head." All right. It was one thing for something to be going on I wasn't in on. It was another for them to carry on a whole second conversation right in front of me.

The two looked at each other over my head for a minute before Max shook her head. "Fine. I'll talk to him in the morning. But don't get your hopes up."

"Good enough."

Max turned to me, obviously eager to change the subject. "Hey, question for you Bells, while we have something resembling privacy to talk about this. How much does Jake tell you about what's going on in this whole 'Getting ready to fight the Volturi' thing they have going on?"

"Not very." It was a point of contention between me and Jake, one of the few that actually had the ability to make me want to throttle him. Or put some serious thought into turning him into a throw rug. A wolf could handle being skinned, couldn't he? Just a little? "All I know is that Carlisle got a letter from Aro, and he, Jake and Sam have been holed up trying to figure out what to do about it."

Alice went unnaturally still. "He got a letter from Aro?"

Woah. Hold the phone. It wasn't like Carlisle to keep them out of the loop. Usually they-Alice and Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper and, of course, Edward-knew about all of this long before I did. The fact that no one was saying anything about it was more concerning than the fact that it was happening at all. We'd known something from the Volturi was coming. The question was, why hadn't they bothered to tell anyone about it?

"Hey beautiful." Jack poked his out and grinned at Max, who smiled back tightly. There was definitely something going on there. The last time I'd heard, the two of them were getting along great. Now the tension was so thick you could have cut it with a knife-and it got even thicker when Carlisle came around the corner with Charlie, hands tucked in the pockets of the thick woolen coat I knew he didn't actually need, and saw the four of us standing there.

Jack, thankfully, remained adorably clueless.

"Hey, Bella, I'm heading out." Charlie turned to Carlisle and stuck out his hand. "Thanks for having us for dinner." Then his cheeks turned pink as he realized what he'd said-and who he'd said it too. Carlisle, bless his heart, simply took his hand and shook it.

"It was my pleasure, believe me." The smile he gave Charlie was natural and warm, but his eyes were a writhing mix of something considerably more complicated. "It's always a pleasure to have a houseful of people for the holidays."

"He says that now," snickered Alice. "You should have heard him by the time the pack cleared out last night."

"Yeah, well, it's a wonder he doesn't have some kind of supernatural Valium for those nights." Commiserate much? As the wife of the pack alpha, my house was overrun by wolves on a regular basis. With all the Ibuprofen I'd been eating lately, it was a wonder I still had a stomach lining.

"Supernatural Valium?" Jack laughed. Wrappinng his arms around Max's waist, he hung his head over her shoulder and grinned at me. "Like 'sleeping like the dead' Valium?"

Oh shit. I kept forgetting Max hadn't let Jack in on the whole secret of La Push. I don't know why. True love is accepting that your wife's best friends were dating werewolves, and the rest of her friends were straight out of a Stoker novel, right?

Yeah, okay. Maybe I could understand why she hadn't gotten around to telling him after all. I was so lucky the only one I'd ever had to explain the whole "La Push" thing to was Max. She was such a freak, I knew she'd take it all in stride. It was a totally different story when you were dealing with someone normal. Looking back, I could kind of understand why Jake and Edward had been so worried about breaking the news to me. And Jake had it easy.

"Yeah, something like that." Max looked over at Jack, her hands drifting up to squeeze his fingers. "With the crew we get, it's a wonder we're not all on prescription grade sedatives around here."

"Ever think about it, doc?"

"That would be immoral, unethical and extremely dangerous. I'm fairly certain Dr. Donovan would object to at least one of those." Apparently at some point Carlisle had finished talking to Charlie. He was now standing at the bottom of the steps, looking at Jack with the faintly disapproving air of someone who'd just discovered something somewhat nasty on the bottom of his shoe. Oops. Nothing like playing open mouth, insert foot with the original founder of the moral code for vampire nation.

"Just one? Thanks Dr. C." Max's face was wry when she looked over at him, but the half-hearted smile she'd worked up for Jack faded away into something a little more real quirking at the corner of her mouth-and the disapproving set of Carlisle's lips softened with affection when his attention shifted from Jack to her. Oh shit. Suddenly the covert looks, the low grade tension, the anxiety at the table all made sense. Looked like Emily was right. There was something brewing between the two of them, and everyone knew it. Except me. And Jack, apparently. The question was, how long was that going to last?

"No, of course not. I didn't meant to imply Max would be sneaking narcotics." Jack hurried to cover up his blunder, unconsciously tugging his fiancée just a little closer. Protection? I wondered if he had any idea how completely pointless trying to hide behind Max was. He was just lucky Carlisle wasn't that brand of vampire.

"Didn't you?"

Ouch. It wasn't like Carlisle to put someone on the spot like that, especially when he knew full well we were just kidding around. Of course, it was one thing for one of us to joke. It was another for someone else to say something that could completely ruin her career, even if it was said in jest. If that comment hit the wrong ears, this conversation could send us down a road none of us wanted to travel. Granted, none of those ears were here, but still. It was a dumb thing to say.

Charlie cleared his throat uncomfortably, pulling my attention away from the scene unfolding in front of me. "Hey, Bella, Sue and I are going to hit the road."

"All right." Jogging down the stairs (and laughing a little when I skidded, since Alice caught me before I hit the ground) I threw my arms around him and pulled him into a quick, tight hug. "Love you Dad."

"Love you too Bells. Merry Christmas."

Max slipped out of Jack's arms to give him a hug goodbye, followed by Alice. Poor Charlie. With all these women around here throwing themselves at him, it was a wonder the poor man didn't have a complex. Or maybe he did, and we just hadn't figured it out yet. Either way, he smiled and hugged the rest of "his" girls, then disappeared. Carlisle gave Jack one last arch look, nodded to Max, and started to slip back into the house.

He almost made it.

"Hey, Carlisle, do you think you could cover the clinic tomorrow night if we drag Max and Jack out to the movies? Should be a slow night, and it seems kind of unfair that he comes all the way out here just to get stuck cooling his heels all day."

Alice's voice was innocent, but I could see the mischief behind her words. Was she really stirring up trouble? Or was she clueless? Or was I just grasping at straws? Dear god, I'd been yanked out of reality and dropped down into the Twilight Zone. This was weird, even for us.

"It's okay Dr. C," said Max quickly, before he had a chance to say anything. "You gave me last night off, and I haven't even talked to Rosalie about babysitting yet."

"It's fine, Maxine." Carlisle turned around, his face set in what I decided I was dubbing his patient paternal role model expression. "I actually believe Rosalie overheard your conversation earlier and decided she and Emmett wanted to come along. Sue has offered to baby-sit…for Bella and Jacob as well…if you all want to go out, and I'll be here. You're all too young to be sitting around the house all day." He smiled warmly. "Go out, have a good time. It'll be fine."

He disappeared into the house, leaving the rest of us staring after him with varying expressions. Alice looked thoughtful. Max looked…disturbed. Me, I was still reeling from the bipolar mood swings. I really, really hoped Emily was wrong about this. That I was wrong about this, and that what I'd just seen didn't mean what I thought it did. If Carlisle did have a thing for Max, and she was getting married to Jack, it was going to end badly. Because he'd never do anything to break up her relationship, which meant he'd never come out and tell her how he felt. And if she was interested, and I really wasn't willing to hedge my bets either way, she'd never end things with Jack on the off chance that a man she'd always seen as a father figure might be interested in a relationship.

I wasn't thinking about this anymore. We all had enough on our plates without inventing problems where none might exist. The battle with the Volturi was getting closer. There were the things Eli had said about Jake-he wasn't worried about it, but let's face it. Their pack was a lot stronger than ours, and Eli wasn't the kind of guy you wanted to screw with. If he wanted to do something to Jake, there wasn't much we could do about it.

Then there was the part where Edward was here, and from what I'd heard wasn't planning on leaving for a while. The situation with Max's dad, which I'd been doing my best not to think about too hard but was an unavoidable fact. The guilt over not calling in help a whole lot sooner was eating me alive. I could have easily let Carlisle, with his friends and his connections in high places going back centuries, deal with him before he'd had any more opportunities to mess with her. I didn't. That was my cross to bear.

Bottom line, I had more things to worry about than Max's love life. Didn't mean I wasn't going to pump her for details first chance I got.

That chance came later that night, after we were done cleaning up supper. A patient came in late with a case of what was probably just excessive turkey consumption, but Carlisle obligingly took him back into the clinic to deal with it. Jake and the Cullens grabbed Emmett's new football (Thanks Max. Really. Like he didn't drive me batty enough with the old one.) and headed out into the backyard, dragging Jack along with them. I seriously hoped they remembered he was just human.

All four of the kids had fallen asleep watching Christmas specials in the living room. How you could sleep through a Charlie Brown Christmas, I didn't know, but from the volume of the snoring my son was doing he was managing it just fine. Go figure. Since Jake was out with the guys and didn't seem inclined to come back in anytime soon, I went ahead and bunked the kids down in the guest room Rosalie had made up for them when she babysat. It was nice having friends who had cribs just lying around.

When I got back to the living room Max was sitting on the couch with her feet tucked beneath her, grinning and texting like a fiend.

"What's going on?" Flopping down beside her, I frowned and looked around the room. "Where are Alice and Rosalie?"

"Outside with the guys," she replied absently. "They said they were sick of letting them have all the fun and, since they were going to be toning it down for the human anyway, it was the perfect time to go teach Jasper and Emmett some humility."

"Yeah, good luck with that. They wouldn't know humility if it bit them on the ass." Nodding at her phone, I asked, "Whatchya doin'?"

"Chatting with Jaz." Max looked up and grinned. "She's sending me pics of their Caribbean Christmas. Wanna see?"

"Hell yeah." Leaning over her shoulder, I cheesed as she scrolled through the pics. Fireworks, fireworks, streamers, water…Quil in nothing but jean shorts and a Santa beard, I was so going to have to get her to forward that to me. "Looks like they're having a good time."

"Apparently." Max waggled her eyebrows. "She also apparently managed to give it up enough that they came to a compromise on the whole getting married thing."

"Oh yeah?" Okay, that was interesting. I figured she'd stick to her guns until he walked away, because that's what she expected him to do. Find someone else and walk away from her.

Stupid. If they hadn't broken up by now (and she hadn't killed him yet, which was actually what I'd been waiting on), the only thing that was going to screw it up was Quil imprinting again. And if the wolves only got one soulmate, the chances of that happening were slim. It amazed me to no end that that hadn't occurred to anyone yet. Lightning never strikes the same place twice, etc, etc.

Unless you had a demon pulling the strings, of course.

"So what did they decide?"

"She's still not going to marry him-she's sticking to that one-but she's agreed to give living with him a try. No promises, since the whole freedom and space thing is half the reason she doesn't want to get married in the first place, but I guess they drew up this huge agreement about what they were and weren't allowed to do in terms of getting into each other's business. Honestly, I figure it's kind of pointless. Between Quil's patrols and Jaz's work hours, they'll see each other about as much as they do now."

"Huh." Just when I thought that relationship was something vaguely resembling normal, they tossed another wrench in the works. Good grief. They couldn't just deal with being happy, they had to put rules on it. Jaz really just needed to accept that she was enough for him and get over it. She was going to drive me nuts. Speaking of which…

"Hey." Peering toward the clinic, I lowered my voice to something just barely above a whisper, hoping Carlisle wasn't paying attention to what was going on in the front of the house. He'd gotten pretty good at not paying attention to what we were talking about when he didn't want to be, and figuring that there was a bunch of girl talk going on out here he was probably studiously tuning us out. This was the best chance I was going to get. "What's going on with you and Carlisle tonight?"

Immediately her shoulders stiffened, but she didn't look up from the screen she was texting on. "Nothing. Why?"

Since her voice wasn't any louder than mine, I figured there was something to hear. I just hadn't gotten it out of her yet.

"You guys have been dancing around each other all night. And I thought he was going to rip Jack's throat out when he started talking about your new pharmaceutical habits." She snorted, but smiled. "It's just…weird, that's all."

"Yeah, well, a lot of things are weird these days." Turning off the phone, Max stood up and pulled me off the couch, dragging me toward the pile of coats, hats and shoes near the front door. "Come on. Rose and Alice will hear the kids if they wake up. Let's go play football."

"Oh no, I really don't think…"

"I know." Stuffing her feet into a pair of boots and pulling on her outdoor wear, Max winked mischievously. "That's one of the things I love about you."

Then she disappeared out the front door, leaving me gaping after her.


	29. Max: The Queen of Hearts

_**A/N: Hey all! Sorry this has taken so long for me to post. This chapter drained me dry, so you're absolutely required to be incredibly lavish with your praise and criticism, okay? :) Enjoy!**_

**Chapter 29**

**Seattle**

**New Year's Eve**

**Max**

"The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts, all on a summer's day…"

"Stuff it, Nick." Scowling at the smug vampire in the corner, I stepped down the stairs and, when Nick twirled his finger, obligingly held my arms out to the side and spun so he could see the full awesomeness that was me.

"Do I pass?"

Nick shrugged, flashing a big, toothy grin that was somehow more frightening than his usual, menacing expression. "You'll do. But mine was better."

"Yeah, right." Like there'd ever been a chance in hell I was going to wear that monstrosity he'd picked out. Victorian collars and foofy skirts were _so_ not my thing. But he'd looked so heartbroken when I broke it down to him that there wasn't a single threat he could come up with that was vile enough to make me strap myself into that antiquated get-up I did something I tried to make it my policy never to do where he could see.

I compromised. So, tonight, Maxine Donovan would, in fact, be attending the ball as the Queen of Hearts-as long as the queen regularly walked around in a slick red sheath with a deep sweetheart collar, plunging back, and a skirt that clung like a lover all the way to the floor. Hearts dangled from silver chains on my wrists, drizzled down my neck, flowed from my ears and played peek-a-boo from my skin through a slit in the skirt you barely noticed until I moved. Then it was impossible to miss. Paired up with a killer pair of stilettos and the silver tiara from my wedding set, I was the Queen of Hearts times Ten.

Let me tell you, the Red Queen never looked this good.

"Hey, Max, have you seen my…?" Jack's voice trailed off when he looked up from the shirt sleeves he'd been fiddling with. "Hey, how come _he_ didn't have to dress up?"

"I am."

"He is."

Our voices rang in chorus, eyes flicking together in a rare moment of shared humor at Jack's expense. Jack just frowned, looking Nick up and down from the top of his black military beret to the toes of his carefully polished boots, taking in his black shirt, cummerbund and tux along the way.

"What's he supposed to be?"

"Oh lord, here we go." Emmett walked into the kitchen, looping an arm around my waist and planting a quick kiss on my cheek. Grinning, I took a hot second to scope him out. He was going as the Mad Hatter, and from the top of his ridiculous beribboned top hat to the brightly colored patches on his grey suitcoat to the completely unsuitable green shirt, checkered pants and ridiculous shoes (what _were_ those, anyway?) layered underneath, he looked fantastic.

I couldn't believe Rosalie had talked him into it.

Nick tucked his hands behind him, his glowing red eyes dark with menace as he launched into a husky rendition of the poem I'd already heard a thousand times that night.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son,

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun  
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

"Carroll. Very appropriate, all things considered." Dr. C walked into the room, his hand lightly cupped in front of him. "Jack, I believe you're looking for these?"

"Oh, awesome. Thanks Doctor Cullen." Jack scooped the heart-shaped cufflinks out of his hand, quickly fastening them to his wrists. "And voila! One Jack of Hearts."

Jack's outfit wasn't the most inspired in the house, but you had to admit, he did look good in his requisite black tux, with its red cummerbund, heart-shaped cufflinks and a conservative red heart on the breast. It was low-key, but considering I'd originally told him I wasn't dressing up at all I thought he'd covered rather nicely.

I did mention all of the Cullens were going to be at this little shindig, didn't I? Somehow, in the mad, crazy rush of the last few weeks I'd managed to completely forget that as the hospital's single largest donors, the Cullen family had their own gilt-edged, engraved invitations to be the guests of honor at this evening's festivities. When Alice first told me they were actually planning on coming I nearly got down on my knees and wept with gratitude. Spending the night sipping champagne, making nice and flashing some cleavage to convince a bunch of stuffed-shirt donors to open their wallets wasn't my idea of a good time, but it was a necessary evil if I wanted to keep getting a regular paycheck.

Since I was bringing an entire houseful of vampires with me, I was pretty sure someone would stop me before I did anything too stupid.

Personally, I was so thrilled at the idea of having someone besides Jack to keep me company tonight, I couldn't even see straight. Don't get me wrong. Jack and I had torn through the woods and across the beach like a couple of children this past week, and I'd had a blast rediscovering Forks and La Push through a whole new set of eyes. Jack had been awesome, and except for a few brief, awkward moments while they figured each other out he and the Cullens had got on like sugar cookies and molasses. But through all the shouting and laughter and snowball fights, something hadn't felt quite right since he got back. It didn't take a genius to figure out what.

Especially when that something was standing less than six feet away, looking yummier than chocolate and twice as smooth in a classic tuxedo with tails, his top hat propped jauntily on top of his head. The red cummerbund showcased tight, muscular abs, while the unbuttoned collar flashed just enough chest to have me biting my tongue to make sure it didn't come rolling out of my mouth. He should have looked ridiculous in the formal, old-fashioned ensemble, especially with his sloppy collar, but he didn't.

The oh-so-proper Dr. Cullen looked good enough to eat.

Clinically cool amber eyes skimmed over my outfit, sowly running down to my toes before tracing the lines of the dress back up again, sparkling with mirth by the time they got back to my face. "Somehow, I don't think that's precisely what Lewis Carroll had in mind when he created the Red Queen."

Nick snorted. "That's what I said."

"Yeah, when you weren't busy trying to look down the front of my dress," I retorted, blushing hotly when Carlisle looked over at Nick with one raised eyebrow. The casual shrug that seemed to be the cornerstone of Nick's vocabulary took the sting out of my retort. He hadn't denied it. Not that there would have been any point, but still. Most men would have at least made a token effort, even if I had caught him red-handed. Not our Nick.

"Personally," I continued, raising my hand so I could admire the shine off the deep ruby polish Alice had caked on my fingernails, "I think Carroll was thinking entirely too small."

"Max, Nick, Edward said to tell you he'd be ready in five." Jasper strode in from the kitchen, looking like a tall, dark and debonair copy of Dr. C. They were a perfect match for the night, until you got to their hats. Alice had painted "Dee" and "Dum" on the top so we'd be able to tell them apart.

I can tell you who wound up being "Dum". It wasn't Dr. C.

Emmett, who had been standing in the corner quietly watching our little exchange, rolled his eyes and snorted in husbandly disgust. "Rose, on the other hand, may still be primping five hours from now."

"It does a man good to learn to wait on a woman." My mother's stout voice preceded her, and her stylish pink bathrobe, into the room. "Then he's not so impatient when the time comes to wait on…other things."

Emmett looked sheepishly down at his toes while the rest of us roared with laughter. I couldn't blame him. She'd had plenty to say about my sex life more than once. It was about time I got to pass the buck.

"Kids all washed up?"

Mom beamed. "Upstairs in their pajamas, looking like little angels." Oh geez. She was loving this temporary grandma thing, and had all but prostrated herself to be able to watch them while we were gone tonight. I was so screwed when they moved on to permanent placement. "I told them we'd stay up, have popcorn and watch bad TV until the ball drops."

Opening my mouth to argue, I closed it again. It was New Year's Eve. Kara was feeling better, and both kids had dutifully taken their naps this afternoon so they'd be awake to see "Grandma Jeanni" tonight. And even if I said no she was going to go ahead and do it anyway. May as well accept defeat with grace.

"You guys have fun. And thanks again for watching them." Looking up at the clock, I frowned. Edward and Nick, the evening's odd men out, were riding with Jack and I up to Seattle. If we left as soon as Edward was ready we were just barely going to make it on time. Somehow, I didn't think my boss would appreciate me being fashionably late as much as I would, which meant I didn't have time to wait for Rose.

Not for the first time, I regretted not just going back to Seattle and getting dressed there. That had been Plan A. But Kara had insisted she needed to see everyone all dressed up, so I caved. Now, since I couldn't just let Edward or Nick drive like maniacs with Jack in the car, that two hour drive was going to be a killer.

Carlisle followed my gaze and smiled in understanding. "If I've learned nothing else about having a daughter, I've learned that Rose isn't going to be ready one iota sooner than she's ready to be. Go ahead and go. We'll meet you there."

Manners warred with punctuality and lost. "All right." Scooting up the stairs, I kissed the kids goodnight (again), then scooped up my purse and soundlessly let Dr. C help me into my coat. Jack, Edward and Nick had already gone out to Jack's sensible four door sedan, so I let myself enjoy the soft shivers that raced down my spine when his fingers brushed across my bare skin.

"We'll try not to be too far behind you."

Carlisle stepped back, and though I turned and subtly searched his face before he smiled and headed down to his office I didn't see a trace of the nervous anticipation shooting bottle rockets through the pit of my stomach. Its absence left me feeling oddly bereft. Those moments between us on the porch Christmas Day, before Rosalie had interrupted, had played through my mind a thousand times this past week, whether I wanted them or not. The intensity of his eyes, the force of his grip, that _something_ that had sparked and sizzled in his usually implacable expression didn't make any more sense to me now than it had then.

I still didn't know what he wanted from me, but he'd wanted something, and my body's response to that was unmistakable. The burn in my cheeks. The flutters in my stomach. The way I had to work to meet his eyes when he walked in the room these days but could happily spend hours scoping out his bum when he thought I wasn't looking. Apparently it only took a couple of sparks to turn a serious case of hero-worship into something a little…more.

'C'mon Max, call a spade a spade and just spit it out.'

All right, fine. Does it mean anything when you're having an argument with your subconscious and you lose? Either way, it was right. I hadn't cracked a sex joke or dropped a double entendre all week. The situation was rapidly nearing critical if I didn't get it together, and if I was going to put all of my cards on the table I'd be forced to admit I was crushing in a way I hadn't crushed since the scrumptious Dr. Darius Monroe had flashed his baby blues over a foetal pig in freshman year A&P.

It was seriously not cool. Bad enough I was engaged to be married (eventually) and my fiancé was underfoot every time I turned around. Bad enough he was old enough to be my great-grandfather's great-grandfather's great-grandfather. And bad enough his son (who was also old enough to be my grandfather) was still pining after my best friend. At least Dr. Monroe and I had enjoyed a semester's worth of hot, sweaty sex before calling it quits after the Dean almost caught us on his desk, locked in a position designed to make whoever wrote the Kama Sutra weep with envy. (Those yoga classes really paid off.)

I was starting to suspect I'd completely imagined the sparks that had been burning between us this past week. Ever since Jack arrived Dr. C had been friendly, helpful and kind. Perfectly poised. Perfectly polite. The perfect host. It was both a perfect answer to my prayers and a perfect pain in the butt. Whatever had been there before was now locked up tighter than a drum, leaving me with a crush that was rapidly reaching epic proportions and the very desperate, very _real_ need to not completely humiliate myself until I could get back home and let it all blow over.

Reassuring myself that it _would_ blow over I headed for the car, cursing when my fantabulous shoes took a slide on the ice. We had, after all, practically lived in each other's pockets for the better part of the last month. Proximity was undoubtedly the driving factor behind these stupid feelings that promised nothing but trouble. As soon as Jaz got home I was making a break for Seattle as fast as my feet would carry me. My new job would give me plenty of reasons ('You mean excuses?' 'Shut up. Nobody asked you.') to stay out of Forks for a while. By the time I came back, everything would be back to normal and I'd be able to have a good laugh at the idiocy of it all.

I said it. Repeated it. Drummed it into my head. But when I looked back at the house and saw that quiet, serious face watching with those inscrutable eyes from Dr. C's office before the curtains fell back into place, my stomach jumped up into my throat.

I said it. I just wasn't sure I believed it.

Three hours later, unrequited crushes on widowed vampires were the least of my worries. The absence of said widowed vampire, and the motley crew he was supposed to be bringing with him, was a much more pressing concern as I stood jammed elbow to ass in line for a pitiful collection of hors d'oeuvres that barely qualified as edible. It was official. Anyone who so much as suggested not stopping at Taco Bell on the way home was going to have their tongue shoved down their blaspheming throat. I was hungry. My shoes were starting to pinch. It was hotter than a witch's oven, the band crooning a pitiful remix of "Love Me Tender" on stage was giving me a migraine, all of my escorts had abandoned me for parts unknown, and I'd just spent the last hour trying to explain to a group of people who couldn't tell you the difference between ALL, PPD-NOS and a hole in the ground, and who didn't care as long as they could still write it off on their taxes, what we did around here.

This was not my happy place. After the third time someone jostled my arm, sending my meatballs careening to the floor, I gave up. Dropping my plate on the table, I scooped a glass of champagne off of a nearby tray and went to find my erstwhile fiancé. Smiling and nodding politely at the administrator who lifted his glass in my direction, I kept walking. Any more small talk and I just might throw up. Maybe I could talk Jack into sneaking into one of the empty rooms down the hall for fifteen minutes before I gave in and killed somebody.

Walking across the crowded room, I had to give props to whatever poor schmuck had drawn the short straw and landed on the hospital decorating committee. The hotel that was hosting this shindig had opened up the walls between two of its conference rooms, giving us a room large enough to hold a dance floor ringed with shrubbery (I didn't want to know how it got there) and a decent number of tables decked out in white linen, shiny candles and big, happy flowers. The walls had been draped with murals of Alice's Wonderland, the paint shining in the candlelight to give the room and ethereal feel, and I couldn't resist the urge to reach up and run my fingers down the caterpillar's back.

Maybe, if I'd brushed the urge aside and just kept going, _maybe_ I would have missed what came next. There are moments in your life where everything you thought you knew about yourself, and the people you care about, cants ever so slightly, so that even though you've seen everything a thousand times before you find yourself wondering if you've ever seen it at all. If your life, such as it were, was actually just an illusion, and the things you took for granted turn out to be mere figments of your imagination.

If I'd known I was going to be walking into one of those moments, I'd have stayed in the damn line, suffered through another round of meatballs, and made nice with another fat donor with more money than sense. Or maybe not. Maybe I would have walked over there anyway. Better the devil you know than the one lying in wait, ready to sneak up on you when you least expect it, right?

Or in this case, better the devil you know than the one you married.

"Jack!" Turning my head, I saw Jack propped against a giant mushroom less than six feet away, a glass of bubbly in his hand and a comfortable smirk on his face.

"Danny. Good to see you." Reaching out, Jack shook the hand of a tall, white-suited man whose tan skin and surfer-boy good looks would turn heads. From the way he walked, you could tell he knew it too.

Grabbing Jack's champagne, Danny stole a sip and grinned as I started walking over. "So, how goes the seduction of man-eating Max?" Danny shook his head ruefully. "I tell you Jack, when you told me Senator Donovan all but begged you to take his little charity case off his hands, I thought you were full of shit. I figured, Jack? Straight arrow Jack, dating that little freak? No way. But I gotta tell you, looking at her tonight it's pretty obvious that there are some serious perks, if you know what I mean." He waggled his eyebrows meaningfully. "Did you get her in the sack yet?"

My heart was pounding in my ears. Even though every ounce of common sense I had was screaming at me to go over there, demand some answers and enjoy the satisfaction of hearing Jack tell him to go to hell, I couldn't move. It was like my feet were stuck to the rails while I watched the train coming, so blinded by the lights that I just stood there and let it run me over.

Jack scoffed, his smirk growing wider. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. It almost makes up for what a bloody freak she is the rest of the time. That, and the obvious financial benefits of being endorsed by Senator Hank Donovan."

Oh. My. God. Staring at Jack, the pieces suddenly clicked into place. His newly sprung interest in what had been a casual relationship at best. How quickly he popped a ring on my finger. It hurt. As the only child of Senator Hank Donovan, it wasn't the first time a man had come sniffing at my heels because of who my father happened to be. It was, however, the first time any guy had been smooth enough to make me believe it.

"Heard you managed to pick up some rugrats as part of that deal too. Never figured you for a family man Jack, but look at you now."

My soon-to-be-ex fiancé shuddered, popping his neck. "Don't remind me. I'm just counting down the days until I can send the little mongrels back to the pound. I figure once we're married I'll be able to keep her busy enough that she won't even think about having kids, or taking someone else's rejects, if you know what I mean."

You could tell by the bob of his head that Danny had already had too much. Watching him grab Jack's glass and pour it down his throat, ignoring his friend's disgruntled expression, I heaved a long, heavy sigh. There was one in every crowd, and after hearing Danny's words up close and personal I could tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that that man was a trust fund baby, born with his daddy's silver spoon and the unshakable belief that he could do whatever he wanted to whoever he wanted to do it to and it didn't matter. Daddy would come bail him out sooner or later.

I would have dearly loved to take the time to show him how very wrong he was, but this was neither the time nor the place. And after hearing Jack's careless rant, it would be a miracle if I managed to get through the night without breaking his nose. Then I looked down at my glass of champagne, mentally comparing the color to Jack's pitch-black tux. If you can't get mad, you might as well get even, right?

The tears would come later, ranking a distant second to the well of fury bubbling up in my gut that reminded me breaking his face would be wonderful for my frustrations. No harm, no foul. I could always stitch him back up when we were done. Since this was an office affair, however, I had to find something a little less obvious. Sidling up beside him, I smiled sweetly, wrapped my arm around his back…and dumped the contents of my mostly full glass of champagne right down the front of his thousand dollar tux.

"Oops." I blinked innocently when he yelped. "I'm so sorry. Must have slipped. Happens to us charity cases every once in a while. Our mama never raised us right."

Mentally, I said twenty Hail Marys to a god I wasn't at all sure I actually believed in for the fib. Hey, nobody does guilt like a Catholic-unless it's an Irish mother. I was lucky enough to have both wrapped up in one bouncy, meddling bundle who most certainly had raised me right, and doubtless would have had her hand clamped around her mouth holding back hysteria at the sight of Jack hunched over, trying to keep his cold, wet pants from soaking something more delicate.

It took a second. I watched as awareness clicked in, shame crawling across his face when he realized that I'd heard everything he just said.

"Max. I, ah…"

We didn't need an audience for this. One death glare later the trust fund scum suddenly remembered he had better things to do than hang out here.

The breath whooshed out of Jack's lungs the minute he was gone. "I can explain."

"Oh, I sincerely doubt that." Crossing my arms across my chest, I kept time with my toe against the hardwood floor while I pretended to think. "Let me guess. Just guy talk, right? You didn't mean anything by it?" He stared at me mutely. "C'mon Jack, you can do better than that. At least _try_ and be original when I'm dumping you. That way I don't feel like the last year of my life was a _complete_ waste of time."

"Please, Max." Hands reached out to gently grab mine. I pulled them back in disgust. "I was stupid, but I didn't mean anything by it." He was talking quickly now. "I love you, you know that."

The tears that had coated my throat started creeping to the surface. Damn it. His voice was soft and sincere, and I badly wanted to believe him. The problem was, I had ears, and I'd already swallowed his bullshit hook, line and sinker once.

"You know what?" I said softly, my voice thicker than I would have liked. "I think you did. I think you've been selling me a line of crap this whole time, because I've got something you want and for some strange, bizarre reason you thought this was the best way to get it." My stilettos put us nose to nose. "Know why? Because the people that love me would never, _ever_ talk about me, or Kara, or Jeremy like that. Ever." The ring landed with a soft clink at the bottom of his glass. "Enjoy the rest of your night. I'll drop your stuff off when I get back from Seattle."

The soft click of my shoes sounded hauntingly loud in my ears, a lonely accompaniment to what was left of the tatters of my shredded pride. It wasn't the dramatic exit I would have liked, but I hadn't given in to the urge to inflict bodily harm either. I figured I'd better quit while I was ahead.

"Max, wait." The warm hand on my suddenly freezing skin had me whipping around, one hand instinctively balled into a fist. "Can we talk about this?"

"Is there a problem?" Dulcet tones belied the temper simmering in Edward's eyes when he stepped between us, his eyes going pointedly to Jack's hand on my arm. A blind man could have felt the menace rolling off him, an unspoken promise that there was going to be hell to pay if the answer was yes.

Jack looked back and forth between us, clearly torn, before slowly pulling back. "No. No problem."

"Good." One step put my unlikely knight in shining armor between us, deliberately shutting Jack out of the conversation. "Dr. Donovan, it seems your presence is required elsewhere." Holding out his arm, he said softly, "Shall we?"

The sympathy on his face tore at me, a reminder of the humiliation that was in store when I let myself think about what just happened, but for now I was just grateful for the excuse to escape. Slipping my arm through his I let him lead me away from the man staring silently at my back.

"Good-bye Jack."

A steady hand on my back led me through the crowd, out of the room, down the hall and into a mostly empty solarium I hadn't even realized was there. Brittle, hurting, I slowly lowered myself onto a bench and leaned forward, hands propped on my knees.

"You knew."

It wasn't a question. Edward's unique…talents…guaranteed he'd known exactly what was going through Jack's mind when we'd been together. He didn't bother trying to deny it.

"Yes, I knew." The stiff fabric of his formalwear brushed against my skin until we sat shoulder to shoulder. He was the only that had managed to escape the whole "costume" thing. I envied his willpower. It would have felt good to feel like I'd been in control of _something_ tonight. "I guess you're wondering why I didn't tell you sooner and spare you all of this."

"Not really." Closing my eyes, I tipped my head back against the wall. "It was none of your business, and I probably wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't heard it for myself."

There was silence, then, "Yes, that was my reasoning too." Fabric rustled when tense shoulders slumped. Even with the weight of this whole mess pulling at me, I couldn't help but feel for him. Eddie-boy might not be my favorite person, but it had to be hell being the guardian of everyone else's secrets.

"Some days," he admitted, laughing at the mental picture I shot him of me staking him, Buffy-style. "Cute. Ineffective, but cute."

"I try." The conversation slipped into a surprisingly comfortable silence. Unlike Alice or Rosalie, who would have been raging a mile a minute, Edward was content to leave me alone with my thoughts-or as alone as I could be with him sitting there trying not to pick them out of my head. Thank god I hadn't started planning the wedding. Or worse, done something really romantic and dumb, like eloping at Christmas.

Oh man. I did _not_ want to have to explain this to my mother.

"I'm quite sure, given the circumstances, she's going to understand."

Anger I could handle, but the kindness in his voice loosened the tight knots I'd put on my tears, several slipping down the side of my face before I could pull them back in. Crying over a lunk who only wanted me for my connections. How the mighty have fallen. God, what was wrong with me?

A soft handkerchief reached up and brushed the wet streaks away. "We don't have that much time." Wet chuckles barked up from my chest, and I snuggled down into the arm that appeared around my shoulders. "Well, okay," he corrected, "_I _have that much time. But you don't."

"Jerk. You sure know how to make a girl feel good. Not."

"It's a gift."

Grinning, I slipped an arm around his waist. "We're a pair, aren't we?" He didn't have to ask what I was talking about. Him and his eternal, unrequited love for someone else's wife, me with my general inability to find a guy who wasn't a complete and total jackass. "At least we have each other."

"Yes, I suppose there's always that." The sarcasm in his dry response wasn't quite enough to hide the pain. "I have the utmost faith, Maxine, that we're both going to be just fine. One of these days."

"One of these days." It had been more for me than for himself, I knew, but I had to believe he was right. I had to believe that sooner or later this was all going to be just a fading memory, something I could look back on and laugh, and not something that was going to plague me for the rest of my life.

The hum of voices down the hall drew closer, intruding on our moment of solitude. I would have happily sat there not talking with Edward all night-or, better yet, slipped out the back door when no one was looking-but the party raged on and I had a job to do.

There are perks to hanging out with someone who knows everything you're thinking. Not many, but a few. Without comment Edward stood up, helping me to my feet and waiting patiently while I dug a compact out of my purse to make sure my near-tear experience hadn't completely trashed my makeup.

"Dr. Donovan? Has anybody seen Dr. Donovan?" The frantic little man in the brown suit stood in the doorway, eyes moving jerkily until they settled on my hiding spot. "Oh, thank goodness. I was starting to think you'd disappeared."

"Don't think I didn't try." Smiling ruefully, I squeezed Eddie's arm in thanks. "Chance, Edward. Edward, Chance. Chance is our fundraising coordinator," I explained when Edward lifted one questioning brow.

"Ah, lovely to meet you." Edward held out his hand. Chance reached forward and squeezed it enthusiastically, the fine grey strands of what was left of his comb-over flopping in the air.

"Likewise." His smile turned his pug-like face into a mass of wrinkles that, mixed with his bushy grey brows, almost completely obscured his grandfatherly eyes. "I hate to interrupt, but there's someone waiting to speak to Dr. Donovan. Would you excuse us?"

"Of course." Edward sketched a quick, mischievous bow before disappearing, leaving the two of us standing in the middle of a quickly growing crowd.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your…whatever…" said Chance with a quick, uncertain wave of his hand, "but…"

"There's someone else I have to try and persuade to part with a bigger portion of their wallet?" His face lit up like a firecracker. How did he shave with those jowly cheeks? "All right. Lead on, McDuff."

When you're heading up fundraising for a massive organization like ours, you'd think you'd have to have a sense of humor. Especially when you have the misfortunate to _actually_ be named McDuff. But Chance McDuff had only been with us for a few months, and this was his first big event. He obviously wanted to make a good impression.

I could humor him. For now. But if his mystery donor stepped on my feet, looked down my dress or patronizingly informed me that I was far too young to be in charge and could I please tell my boss that he didn't appreciate having to deal with underlings (all of which had already happened tonight) I would _not_ be responsible for my actions.

"It's a huge honor," Chance babbled while we cut our way through the crowd. "He hardly ever puts in an appearance at these functions. I couldn't believe it when I got his RSVP. He's single-handedly funded a number of our ongoing projects." He looked over at me with just a touch of desperation. "So behave."

"I always do."

"Uh huh. Nice try." Chance rolled his eyes, putting his hand on the small of my back. A surreptitious glance into the crowded room showed me Jack was nowhere to be found. "Your reputation precedes you, my dear. You hate these things. But we need his support, so please, play nice."

Geez. You dump one tray of shrimp on a donor and everyone assumes you can't be trusted. Ah well.

"Dr. Cullen?" Chance's respectful voice caught the attention of a dark-suited man on my left, leaving me staring into concerned amber eyes in a very familiar face. "This is Maxine Donovan, our new Assistant Head of Pediatric Research. Dr. Donovan, Dr. Carlisle Cullen."

"Dr. Donovan." Carlisle picked up my hand, lifting it to his lips while his eyes searched my face. My stomach sank. He knew. Figured. Stupid vampires.

"Dr. C. It's about damn time you got here. I was starting to think I was going to have to send out the dogs." Chance choked, no doubt picturing his perfect donor disappearing in a huff. Carlisle's face lit up with amusement. I just smiled innocently while Chance scrambled to cover up my gaffe.

"What Dr. Donovan means," Chance said diplomatically, "is that we're very happy to have you here." His hand tightened on my back. Probably to make sure I didn't bolt for the door.

Carlisle's turned his warm, wry smile on Chance. His eyes quickly flicked to the arm around my waist before looking back up. Something dark raced across his face, disappearing as quickly as it came. "It's quite alright, Mr. McDuff. I've known Dr. Donovan for some time, and I'm quite sure what she actually meant was that I am inexcusably late."

"Hey, I've been here for the better part of what, two hours now? How long can it possibly take Rosalie to do her damned hair?"

By this point, Chance looked like he was going to have an apoplexy with my name on it. Sighing, I slapped him on the shoulder. "Chillax, McDuff. It's his guest room I'm crashing in at the moment. The man's seen me before my first cup of coffee, I'm quite sure there's nothing I'm going to say that's going to shock him here."

"Oh." Chance's face melted from mortifying martyrdom to rabid curiosity. Apparently, he'd been left out of the loop. "I didn't realize you two knew each other that well."

"Yeah, well, now you do." Disinclined to cater to his obvious desire for more detail, I looked around the room. Nick was flirting with one of my nurses, and Edward was making nice with an administrator, but Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper and Alice were nowhere to be seen. "Where is everybody?"

"They're here somewhere. I asked them to give me a few minutes to talk to you alone first." Flicking his gaze to Chance, he said formally, "Would you excuse us?"

Without waiting for an answer he caught my hand and pulled me out of Chance's grip. Replacing the old man's warm hand with his own cool fingers, he led me out to the dance floor. I wasn't sure what the band was playing (or butchering), but popular opinion seemed to agree it was something to be slow-danced to rather than the usual bump and grind. So I didn't object when Dr. C caught my hand and pulled me in.

"Alice told me what happened. Are you alright?"

Thanks Alice. Really.

"I'm fine." If you didn't count the heavy ball of lead in my stomach, or the urge to scream that had permanently lodged itself at the back of my throat. "These things happen, right?" Pursing my lips, I studied him carefully. "Not that I'm objecting, but how did you end up getting nominated to have this little conversation? No offense, but it's usually more of a chick thing. Something you're not telling me?"

A soft chuckle rumbled in his chest, but his face remained serious.

"I asked. It occurred to me you might want to talk about it, and with the amount of ranting that Alice and Rose were doing on the way over I don't think you'd have gotten a word in edgewise." Gently squeezing my hand, he pulled me close, so the skirt of my dress brushed across the top of his shoes and his lips grazed my ear. "And I needed to see for myself that you were okay."

Shivers raced down my back for the second time that night. What do you say to that? My own words to Jack flashed in my head. This was how it was supposed to be when you had people who cared about you. Peering over his shoulder, I finally found Emmett. He had one arm wrapped around his wife's waist, who made a lovely Alice in her shimmering blue evening gown and white jacket, and his other slung across Jack's shoulders. Alice, cheerfully dressed as the white rabbit in her black tux with its heart-stamped bow tie, black top hat and rabbit ears and tail, was standing next to them, Jasper's arms wrapped around her waist.

You would have to be a vampire to hear what was going on over there, but from the queasy look on my ex's face I had a feeling that despite their bright, cheerful smiles, the conversation wasn't pleasant. Any thoughts of going over and rescuing Jack from whatever they had in mind went racing out of my head when Carlisle followed my gaze, tucking me tightly against his chest, and Emmett looked over and winked. Screw it. He deserved whatever they decided to hand out, and as much as it went against the grain to stick someone else with my problems it felt good to be taken care of for a change. So I closed my eyes, tucking my head under Carlisle's chin where I could enjoy the solid, dependable strength in his gentle arms. Tomorrow was soon enough for reality to set back in. For now, I was content to pretend that I still believed in dragons and princesses and knights in shining fangs that could make all my problems disappear.


	30. Jake: Unwilling Spotlight

**Middle of January**

**The Cullens' House**

**Jake**

Standing outside the deceptively unimposing wooden door at the top of the Cullens' steps, I hauled in a deep breath. And then another. Then one more, just for good measure…and to give me another excuse to procrastinate. I _really_ didn't want to knock on the door, because if I knocked on the door then someone was going to answer. And if someone was going to answer, I was going to have to say I was there to see Carlisle. And if I got to Carlisle's office, and he looked at me with those creepy, compassionate eyes of his that stripped a wolf bare to the soul, I wouldn't be able to lie. I wouldn't be able to say that I was there to talk strategy, to put our heads together and figure out how we were going to pwn the Volturi. All of our plans to date had been conspicuously lacking one key ingredient. Carlisle.

Sam had given him a year. A year to figure out if he really wanted someone to end his vampiric existence or if those had been hasty words, spoken in grief. That deadline had come and gone, and now I really, really had to have this conversation. It was two weeks past New Year's, and while everyone else might have been celebrating the glory of a new beginning I was sitting here trying to come to grips with the fact that I was going to have to rip the head off of the man who had started off as a giant pain in my ass but had been both friend and father for more years than I can count. It was a _stellar_ start to a fresh new year.

Okay, I could do this.

"Jake?"

Aw, fuck. Or not. Turning around on the steps, I fixed what I was sure was a sickly smile on my face. "Hey Bells. What, ah, what are you doing here?"

Bella, standing there looking adorably ridiculous in her black winter coat and stupid rainbow hat that Rosalie knitted for her during Blondie's "nesting" phase last winter, frowned, looking from me to the door. "I'm looking for Alice. We've got a lunch date, then I'm supposed to be helping her pick out curtains. I guess she's redecorating her wing of the house again. What are _you_ doing here?"

Insert snort of laughter here. The chick who wrote those stupid "Shopaholic" books that Bella was always leaving around (and that I _may_ have flipped through, once or twice, just because there was nothing else to do) obviously hadn't met Alice. If they had, they'd be hanging their head in shame. _Nobody_ could shop the way Alice could shop. It was a good thing the Cullens had some seriously deep pockets, this had to be the fourth time she'd redecorated those rooms this year.

"I'm, ah, just here to see Carlisle." I stuffed my hands in the pockets of my jeans, rocking back on my heels and trying to ride the happy of that laugh at Alice's expense. Bella's face relaxed from concern to easy acceptance, no doubt assuming we were talking about the Volturi, and I was willing to let her roll with that. I'd told her that Carlisle had gotten a letter from Aro, basically offering Carlisle complete control of both North and South America if he'd quietly turn over Bella and the pack. He'd also gone into great detail about the vamp he'd tortured to get the details on our plans for this summer. We were going to need the element of surprise working in our favor if we were going to have a chance in hell of making this work, and so Sam, Carlisle, Nick and I had been putting our heads together (with the occasional visit from Demitri-the damned bloodsucker always seemed to know when we hit a key point in the plan and needed him there) to come up with a plan that would work. I'd spent more hours at the Cullens' house than my own the last few weeks, and while I was afraid Bella was going to be seriously pissed about it, there were certain parts of that working in my favor. Like the fact that Bella didn't even raise an eyebrow when she saw me standing on the Cullens' doorstep.

Since my balls were still attached, I was assuming Bella had no idea what I was going to do. If there was a God, I'd be able to keep it that way until it was said and done. She'd come a long way from that scared little girl who'd fallen apart when that damned bloodsucker took off and left her hanging, but she was still so fragile when it came to the people she loved. It was like she could never quite convince herself that even though she was human, and klutzy, and doomed to live a normal lifespan in a town that was ruled by immortal freaks of all shapes and sizes, we still wanted to be there for her.

Part of her was going to take Carlisle's decision very, very personally, no matter how we explained it to her. I didn't mind having to pick up the pieces. Hell, by this point I could probably print up business cards and no one would think twice. Jacob Black, mechanic, wolf and re-assembler of one Bella Swan-Black. I just didn't want to start until I had to. As selfish as it was, I couldn't deal with her pain and my own guilt and still do what I needed to do.

"So, ah, were you planning on going inside any time soon?"

"What?" I stared blankly from Bella to the door, until I realized she thought I was going in. Right. Have to open the door. Have to…

"Hello Bella, Jacob." Edward walked around the back of the house. Great. This just kept getting better and better. The frigging bloodsucker was smiling that little half smile/half smirk that always made me want to make him bleed. A lot. There was nothing smug in the blank look in his eyes, however, or the tears running down the face of the pixie standing next to him. "I thought we'd agreed this conversation was going to wait."

"No, we agreed that I wasn't going to rush Carlisle into doing anything he wasn't ready and willing to do," I corrected, wishing I didn't have to do this. "We gave him a year. That year has come and gone, and we need to know what's going on."

Alice cried harder, and my gut twisted with a terrible, wrenching nausea when I realized that must mean the decision was made. But that didn't make sense, since she couldn't see what happened when the wolves were around. That was why Carlisle had decided to set this up the way that he did, right? Unless she'd seen something that happened after. Maybe they'd had a damned memorial service or something. Or maybe…

"You told her."

"Yes, I told her." Damned bloodsucker didn't look the least bit sorry. "She had a right to know. As did I. And Rosalie and Jasper and Emmett, who are upstairs arguing with him about it as we speak." Now that he said it, I realized that if I stretched my ears a little I could hear Rosalie's shrill voice all the way down here.

Even though I agreed with what she was trying to do, I still couldn't help but cringe. Man, I did NOT want to be Carlisle right now. Blondie and I had been at each other's throats, and even though you'd have to kill me to get me to admit it, it came out to a draw more often than not. If it meant she could talk him out of this hair brained scheme and get me off the hook, I certainly wasn't going to complain about it.

This time.

Before I could figure out whether to tell the leech to mind his own business or walk away and let them deal with it (which wouldn't do a damn thing to get Sam off my case, but might delay this whole mess until Carlisle's kids could talk him out of this stupid friggin' idea and let me off the hook) the door creaked open.

"Somebody having a party out here and forget to invite me?" Max propped one white-clad elbow on the doorframe and grinned down at us. Even though we were far from done, I couldn't help my smirk when my eyes ran over her outfit. I'd known Max a long time, and the pretty little thing in purple and gray, happily sporting a clean, freshly ironed lab coat (if the smell of starch rolling off her meant anything) and flats instead of black leather wasn't her.

"Something like that." Please let her go away. The last thing I needed was another witness to this farcical comedy we had playing out on these steps. She nodded, looking like she was getting ready to go back inside when Bella spoke up.

"Max, do you know what's going on upstairs?" Here we go. The love of my life glared at me viciously, one arm wrapped around Alice, who had stopped sobbing but still had tears running down her face. "Apparently Carlisle and Jake are involved in some harebrained scheme that no one else agrees with, and Rosalie, Jasper and Emmett are trying to talk Carlisle out of it while Edward and Alice try and talk some sense into my stupid husband."

"Hey!" I said, offended. This was starting to feel familiar. A Cullen came up with a stupid idea, the wolves go along with it in the interests of maintaining some kind of peace and harmony between the coven and the pack, and I end up getting nailed to the wall when Bella decides she doesn't like it. It was enough to make a guy think about heading for the east coast and washing his hands of the whole affair. Oh, wait, I did that. And wound up coming back when my lovely bride decided she missed her family. If we'd stayed in Jacksonville, this mess would have been Sam's problem instead of mine. Wonder if it was too late to get a plane ticket.

"I don't know, but that would explain the screaming I heard coming from upstairs earlier." Max didn't look concerned. Yelling at the Cullen house wasn't exactly unusual. "Someone want to fill us in on what's going on?"

"He's going to die." Alice's voice quivered helplessly. "Jacob's going to kill him, and there's nothing we can do about it."

"Jacob wouldn't kill anybody. Especially not anybody we know. _Would you_, Jacob?" Bella's pointed words made me cringe. Aw shit. This was why I hadn't wanted to tell her.

"Jacob has no choice. He already gave his word," Eddie said snottily. "He can't back out now."

"Wait." Max held up her hand, sinking back into the doorway when a cold blast of wind rolled through, scraping up the top layer of snow and sending it dancing across the steps. "Who is Jake supposed to be killing?"

Four expectant heads turned to me. Damn it, when did it become my job to fill them in on this crazy scheme?

"Oh no," I said when Bella's eyes narrowed. "If you want to know what's going on, you're going to have to ask Carlisle. This is his story, not mine. I'm just the bit player here."

"You're going to kill _Carlisle_?" Bella let go of Alice and walked over, punching me in the arm. "You stupid, stupid _dog_! I trusted you! And now you're going to kill him because he's a vampire, and that's just what you do, right? So help me God, Jacob," she ranted on, without giving me a chance to open my mouth and defend myself, "If you do this, I am never speaking to you again. Ever. And Billy and Jenny are coming with me, you…you…you _murderer!_"

"Chillax Bells." Max was looking back and forth from me to Bella, and her face had turned a sickly shade of white. "Jake's no murderer, and he likes Carlisle. He wouldn't hurt him…unless he asked him to. And he asked you to, didn't he?" Her voice was soft, but I could see her starting to put the pieces together. "I should have expected he'd do something this monumentally stupid," she murmured, almost to herself. "He hasn't been well since Esme died. He's decided he's had enough, but he'd never ask his kids to do it. The Volturi won't do it. So he came to Jake."

"Yeah," I said gruffly, trying to ignore the way Bella's shoulders slumped as she took a step away from me. The pain, betrayal and raw, naked grief on her face were breaking my heart. "Carlisle got up in front of the council last year to ask for an addendum to our original treaty-that the pack provide a quick, painless death to any vampire who decided they'd lived long enough and was ready to find some peace. Said wolf would be exempt from retribution from the rest of the coven," I added quickly when Edward stepped up, fury burning in his eyes. Under normal circumstances I didn't mind going ten rounds with the stupid bloodsucker, but right now I was too heartsick to get any real enjoyment out of it.

"Suicide by wolf." Max's face was starting to lose that sickly pale color, replaced by a healthy, angry red. Carefully, I backed down the stairs. She may have been human, but like Andy, she wouldn't hesitate to dish out some serious hurt if she lost her temper. "Suicide by cop for vampires. How cute." She scowled at Edward. "You knew about this, and you didn't try to talk him out of it?"

"What I try and what I can do are two very different things."

"So we're just supposed to accept it? Stand back and let him kill himself, then watch Jake try and deal with the blame you're all going to dump on him first chance you get? While you all wash your hands of the whole affair, because there's nothing you can do, right? Nice, guys. Really nice." And then she slammed the door in my face.

"Well, that went well." Glancing over at Edward, I was surprised to see him grinning. Alice had stopped crying and was starting to smile. "What?" I asked suspiciously.

"Bella, Jacob, would you two like to go get something to eat?" The resignation in Edward's voice had been replaced by hope. "I have a feeling Carlisle's going to be unavailable for a while."

"Oh yeah? Why is that?"

Edward just smiled that smug smile and turned and started walking toward the car, Alice and (with one last, accusing glare directed at yours truly) Bella tagging right along after him. I stood there trying to figure out if I should blow off this talk for another day or suck it up and head upstairs-until I heard the familiar sound of something breaking against the wall in Carlisle's office, and Blondie, Emmett and Jasper came jogging down the stairs. Forget it. I was _not_ getting in the middle of that. From here on out, it was every man for himself.


	31. Carlisle: A Man Has His Breaking Point

_**A/N: Warning: Mild lemony sexual contact ahead. Nothing too catastrophic, but if you're mortally offended by the mere possibility of hot vampire sex I'd suggest you give this chapter a pass. I'll make sure I catch you up in the next one!**_

**January**

**Carlisle's Office**

**Carlisle's POV**

"You stupid, selfish son of a bitch."

Wincing, I watched the door slam into the carefully painted walls of the office. My ears were still ringing from the lambasting Rosalie had given me mere moments before, and after having my character so perfectly assassinated by someone so exquisitely good at it I was comfortably numb by the time Max stepped onto the scene. I didn't have to wonder why she was there. Jacob and Edward weren't exactly quiet.

"My sainted mother would disagree with you on that," I replied, trying not to smile when she bared her teeth and stomped over to the desk. Really, for as short as the leash on her temper was, it was a rare thing to see Max rolling full steam ahead. This was almost entertaining. Or it would be, if I wasn't the one on the receiving end.

"If your sainted mother knew what you were thinking she'd smack some sense into that thick head of yours. As a matter of fact…" Picking up a statue off the top of my filing cabinet, Max tested the weight in her hand for a second before whipping it at my head. You'd think that being a vampire would make that an easy dodge. You'd be wrong. Living with supernaturals for the past several years had given the woman an _excellent_ arm. "It sounds like getting some sense knocked into that thick skull of yours is exactly what you need."

The other children had beat a hasty retreat when projectiles started flying. I couldn't blame them. If I wasn't absolutely certain I would have to leave the country to find another moment's peace, I'd have taken advantage of the preternatural speed that came with my condition and done the same. Knowing that I would be crucified up one side of the wall and down the other when I got back kept me firmly in my seat.

That, and the rogue tear that snuck its way down Max's cheek, quickly dashed away. Bloody hell. My father had often complained that men were physically hardwired to cave at the first sight of a woman's tears. I'd laughed then, but experience had taught me he was right. It didn't matter that I'd been married for the better part of eight decades, or that I had two daughters who felt no compunction whatsoever about using tears to get their own way. The sight of a woman crying still had the power to knock my legs out from under me.

Especially her. For a woman who never cried, she seemed to have been doing a great deal of it lately. The first may have been the result of her repulsive excuse for a father, then later her poor, pitiful excuse for a fiancé, but I didn't have anyone to blame for these but myself.

"Maxine…"

"Oh no, Carlisle Cullen, don't you 'Maxine' me like some hysterical female who doesn't have a lick of sense," she snapped, wiping away another tear. They were falling faster now, leaving a trail of glittering streaks behind. "Suicide? What the hell were you thinking? You were really going to force Jacob into doing this, leaving him to deal with the fallout? Did you _seriously _think no one was going to blame him for this…this…_ridiculous_ decision of yours? Or even take a second to think about what was going to happen if you left your family to go up against the Volturi without you?"

She was ranting now, storming around the room, arms waving in the air like an outraged Amazon. It would have been funny if she hadn't just listed my own laundry list of concerns about what I was doing. I had been deliberately avoiding Jacob, and Sam, and the rest of the pack for the past several weeks while I tried to sort the whole matter out in my head.

The truth was, I didn't think I could go through with it. Not now. But I didn't know if I wanted to live with the consequences if I didn't. There would be no asking Jacob for this favor a second time. For an alpha werewolf, he had a notoriously soft stomach when it came to cold-blooded killing.

Esme's death was still a raw, aching wound, but there were other practicalities to consider. The mind was never meant to live forever. Older vampires had a tendency to go round the bend, and while I had no doubt that Roberto would step in when I was no longer able to control myself, it would be a long, hard, road between now and then. Combine the two, and…well. You could see why I was still waffling, and why anger and shame had danced a deadly tango when I was talking to the children about the whole thing.

Looking at Max, standing there in all her glory accusing me of being a selfish bastard for once, just once, taking the easy way out and putting myself out of my misery (something I would have done when I was first changed, had I known the option existed), that same anger and shame dragged me under. Before I knew, really knew, what I was doing, I had stepped around the desk, caught her hand and pulled her up against me.

Oh yes. The touch of skin on skin almost immediately started uncoiling the knots in my stomach, shifting frustration to anticipation. Anger always brought the beast out to play, raging against the thin bonds of civilization that I had strapped it in. Even recognizing the danger I let it go, just a little, leaning in to sniff softly at her hair and breathe in the sweetness of blood that I worked very, very hard not to notice every time we were together.

"Carlisle." Her voice, while firm, was cautious now. She wasn't afraid, not yet. Leaning forward to absently run my nose along the side of her neck, I wondered how far I could push before she crossed that line. "Carlisle, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" 'Please god, tell me you know,' I thought, just a little desperately, 'because I'll be damned if I do.' It had been over a century since instinct had caught me in its grasp, but the roller coaster of emotions I had been riding for the past two years had finally snapped my iron clad control completely. I was just riding the wave.

Somehow, I had carefully negotiated her across the room while we were speaking, until she was caught between me and the door with no room to move. No way to run. Nowhere to hide. No space to fight back. It was a heady sensation, having her there, but what had started as a predatory act quickly became something else-something else she quickly discovered when, frustrated by her lack of mobility, she squirmed up against me and got up close and personal with exactly how much I enjoyed having her at my mercy.

"Surprised, Maxine?" I murmured, leaning forward so my hands were resting on either side of her neck, caught between a rock and a hard place (no pun intended) while my body screamed for sex or food-preferably both, at the same time, in one heady rush of bliss that would split these infernal tethers once and for all. I usually enjoyed being human but here, with Max's natural scent blending with the sweet lavender of her soap, the crisp tang of her blood and something that smelled suspiciously like fear and arousal blended into one, I felt more like a vampire than I had in years.

"A little." She gasped when I pressed tighter against her, enjoying the heat of her skin, the novel feeling of having her very soft, very human body curving with mine in all the right places. "I ah…that is…oh god."

Her moan when I shifted my hands off the wall and ran them down her sides went straight to my groin and, unable to resist, I lightly rubbed my thumbs along the top hem of her pants, biting back my own groans when her hips instinctively arched against me. I was being a cad, and I knew it, but every man had his breaking point. Night after night of her sleeping under my roof, fighting to keep my hands off her (which was a hundred times harder given her newly single status), pacing the hallways like a restless specter and listing the many reasons this was a very, very bad idea had pushed me past mine.

It may have been death that brought us here, but in that moment every nerve ending I had was vibrating with life. Her hands were fisted by her sides, breath coming in rapid gasps as I traced my fingers over the thin fabric. Her head had tipped back and she was watching me through heavy-lidded eyes while her heart pounded. Her very human arousal was thick in the room. It was intoxicating and, unable to resist, I leaned forward, burying my face in her neck and pressing my lips against her skin. The heat burned, and her heart kicked a steady rhythm against me while her body melted, soft and pliant, in my arms.

That surrender was my undoing. 'Dear lord,' I thought frantically, 'how had Edward survived this?' Desperate now, I yanked her shirt out of her pants, sliding beneath the hem to seek the soft heat of her skin while my mouth roamed across her neck, careful, so very, very careful, to keep from breaking the skin but drawn inexorably to the visible pulse at the junction where throat met clavicle. My eyes closed when my fingertips finally found the sweet haven of her stomach, almost whimpering at the intimate contact. I was lost. Completely, utterly lost.

And then she screamed.

_**A/N: Yes, this was a short one. I wanted to split this scene between Carlisle and Max's POV, so stay tuned. The rest will be coming up shortly ;) **_


	32. Max: Men Are Idiots Sometimes

**January**

**Carlisle's As-Yet Undesecrated Sanctum of an Office**

**Max**

My heart was pounding, my breath so firmly backed up in my throat that I couldn't even manage a dumbfounded "Wha'?" The man who had most definitely been seducing me a moment before (a crazy, random happenstance that I still hadn't managed to wrap my mind around) was now prowling on the other side of the room, scraping his hands through his hair and running through a list of obscenities in languages I probably wasn't supposed to know.

What happened? Pressing my back against the wall in the hope that the solid surface would compensate for knees that had suddenly and abruptly turned to jelly, I ran through the events of the last ten minutes. Find Jake standing on the clinic's doorstep. Realize just how depressed Dr. C must have been if he was asking _Jake_ to usher him into the ever-after. Have a minor panic attack, realize I'm completely helpless, then get really, really pissed off at the thought of Carlisle doing something so insanely stupid without even bothering to talk to us about it. Go inside, break what was probably some ancient archaeological treasure, and end up caught between a door and an angry vampire.

A very angry vampire.

A very angry, very _interested_ vampire, which might explain why I was standing here on trembling knees, so turned on I could barely breathe.

Say what you wanted about older men. Medical school and 400 years of practice had obviously taught the good doctor a thing or two about the female anatomy, because…_damn._ The things that man could do with his hands when we were both fully clothed and standing in a relatively public place had melted my insides. Knowing it was a bad idea, but physically unable to stop myself, I imagined what he'd be able to do in a dark room with nothing on but the radio and shuddered, cringing with embarrassment when I realized that I was practically salivating over his butt. His very trim butt, outlined beautifully by the new, extra-tight fit of his dress pants. When he snapped his head in my direction, I realized that I'd managed to throw in a whimper, just for good measure. Oh hell. How embarrassing was that?

Carlisle groaned, scrubbing his hands over his face before pressing them together and peering at me over his fingers. "I apologize," he said stiffly. Well. That was unexpected. And such a far cry from the naked ravishment that had been dancing through my mind that all I could do was stare. "That was…uncalled for. There's absolutely nothing I can do to make recompense for my behavior other than to apologize, and promise that it will never happen again."

"Never?" I asked, before I could stop myself. Damn it, my mouth was running away with me again. But this time I figured it was perfectly justified. The man had just singed the hair off of my head with nothing but his lips and his hands, and he was telling me it was the last time? How very…disappointing. Because I was really, really hoping I could get him to do it again.

Then, with a grimace, I remembered why I was here. If I wanted those hands on me again, I was going to have to keep him alive long enough to get him to do it. And if the way I'd gone up in flames was any indication, this man was now way out of my league in _every_ arena. I had absolutely nothing to bring to the table here.

"You have my word, Maxine that I will never touch you again." Striding across the room, he caught the door handle and pulled. "I hope you'll continue to stay, despite my aberrant behavior," he said softly, his face half hidden by the door and carefully turned away from me. "I didn't mean to frighten you. I assure you, I am not usually such a beast."

Frighten me? I watched the door as it started to close behind him, mind scrambling, trying to put what he'd just said into some kind of context. What part of that, exactly, was supposed to frighten me?

Then it hit me. Oh, for pete's sake. Grabbing the handle I yanked the door back open, praying he hadn't decided to go all vampire on me. Having this conversation was going to be bad enough, the last thing I needed to do was have it with witnesses. But we did need to have it, preferably before he decided to tell Jake to step up the timetable on that favor after all.

Fortunately, he was still there when I stepped out into the hallway, standing with his palms pressed against the wall and his head hanging down, sucking in great gulps of air that I knew for a fact he didn't need.

"Your hands were cold."

Carlisle froze, tipping his head with an eerie, unnatural stillness to stare at me through carefully guarded eyes. "Excuse me?"

His voice was soft and raspy, thick with emotion, and didn't fit the blank look on his face _at all_. I wanted to walk over, wrap my arms around him, brush back the pieces of hair that had managed to escape that oh-so-perfect hairdo of his and tell him I was okay. Remind him that I knew exactly what he was, and I was still here. Let him know it was okay to let go of those iron bands of control he wrapped himself up in tighter than anyone I've ever known and remember that he was a man too, not just a vampire.

But I didn't do any of that, because I knew he wouldn't welcome it now. Instead, I leaned against the wall, crossed my arms over my chest and tried to sound matter-of-fact while my pulse was still crawling steadily back toward normal.

"Your hands were cold. Cold hands, warm stomach." I shrugged. "Natural reaction. Warm 'em up next time."

"My hands were cold." Tipping his head so he was staring back at the floor, Carlisle thunked his forehead against the wall. "I maul her like an animal, and she complains my hands were cold. Damn it Max," he muttered, his voice muffled by his arms, "I could have killed you."

"But you didn't. You wouldn't." All right, enough with the guilt fest. It required a massive feat of flexibility, since the man absolutely refused to budge one single inch in the right direction, but I finally managed to crouch down and wriggle myself between him and the wall so I could look up into his face. "If I thought for a minute that you were seriously going to rip out my throat, I'd have been screaming for Jake so loud your eardrums would have exploded. But I didn't, because you wouldn't. You couldn't." When he didn't say anything I stood up, forcing him to either tip his head back and stand up or let me break my skull on his chin. Now we were right back where we started, and while part of me was tap dancing around and screaming about what a slut puppy I was, I had to admit that I liked it. A lot.

"You're playing a dangerous game here, Maxine," Dr. C said softly, with just enough growl to make it a threat. "What happens if you lose?"

"Dangerous games are the only kind worth playing." Lifting my hands I cupped his cheeks, surprised when he nuzzled down into my palm. "And I'm not going to lose. You won't let me."

"I almost…" He stopped, sucked in a deep breath, then started again. "Whatever else I may choose to be, I am a beast at heart. What I did to you was unforgiveable."

"Nuh uh." I grinned when his eyes flicked up from where they'd been carefully studying my shoes. "The only thing that's going to be unforgiveable is if you tell me you really, truly have no interest in doing this again and you're still planning to go through with this stupid idea of yours. Then you won't have to worry about what Jacob thinks, because I'm going to kill you myself."

The silence in the corridor was thick as a shroud, and for a moment, watching the questions and indecisions race behind his eyes, I was afraid he was right. That I had lost, and that one amazing moment, with this amazing man that was rapidly becoming more than father, mentor and friend, was all I was going to get.

Then his hands slid slowly down the wall, catching my back and pulling me closer, and I felt all the air leak out of me in a quick whoosh of relief.

"You are the damndest woman," he murmured, reaching up to trace a chilly finger along my shaggy bangs. "If you knew what was good for you, you'd run screaming in the other direction."

"Too late." Giving in to temptation, I leaned forward and tentatively ran my lips along the smooth, clean-shaven line of his jaw, feeling something inside me light up and do the boot scoot n' boogie when he shuddered beneath my hands. "I could say the same about you, you know. If you stick around, I'm going to expect you to finish what you started. Better be sure you're up for it."

It was a joke, but he was quiet for so long that a quick snake of fear raced through my stomach. "If you want to, I mean," I stammered, desperately afraid I was going to push him too far now that he seemed to have changed his mind about that whole suicide by wolf thing-and, glory hallelujah, was interested in following this whatever the hell it was a little bit farther. "If this was one of those crazy, spur of the moment things that you're going to regret in the morning, I totally understand. I mean, c'mon, it's me, right? I could…"

Cold fingers gently pinching my lips shut, bringing my ramble to a sudden and abrupt halt.

"Max?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

And then, wonder of wonders, he leaned down and kissed me.


	33. Jake: Unpleasant Surprises

_**A/N : Hey y'all! Still out there? Sorry for disappearing for so long. There are a lot ofreasonos I could give-too much real life drama, writer's burnout, work crawling out my ears and up my nose until I couldn't see straight anymore-but at the end of the day, i twas time for a break. And the story had hit a pretty good stopping point for it, so I let my brain bubble and boil over what comes next. Now that I feel like I've got some kind of grip on this we're gonna pic kit back up and see how epically they all manage to screw it up from here ;) **_

**Forks**

**Jake**

"I still can't believe you told Carlisle you'd do it."

Groaning, I (very heroically, I thought) refrained from banging my head against the steering wheel of Bella's teeny, tiny car. She'd been repeating the same song and dance since we left the Cullens' house. I was ready to strangle her if she didn't just _shut up._

Granted, that could be because I wasn't actually answering her, but what the hell did she want me to say? That I was sorry? I wasn't. I mean, I was, but not that I told Carlisle I'd do it. Just that I was sorry he'd felt the need to ask me to do it in the first place. That I wouldn't go through with it? I had to. I'd already given him my word. You couldn't be me and take that back. It just didn't work like that.

"What the hell do you want me to say, Bella?" I finally snapped, startling her mouth shut. "Sam was going to do it if I didn't. **I'M** the alpha. This sort of thing is **MY** job, not his. You're going to have to get used to it, because that's how it is now, okay? I can't hide behind the rest of the pack when someone asks me to do something just because you don't like it."

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew I made a mistake. A big one. Bella clammed up, turning her head to look out the window and shrugging my hand off of her shoulder when I tried to reach out to her. Well shit.

"Bells…" Miserable, I put both hands back on the wheel, watching the road fly by in a black and white blur whiIe I tried to figure out how to make her understand. It wasn't like I _wanted_ to do it, damn it. Not like I wanted to rip Edward's head off. Truce or no truce, the day Eddie Boy decided he'd had enough of his miserable existence I was going to be right there waiting. But Carlisle…

With the possible exception of the pixie, Carlisle was the only one of the Cullens I'd never had a problem with. He'd done his best since arriving in Forks to not only keep the peace, but to maintain it. He'd hunted his own kind for years to keep the vampires out of the public eye and away from Forks, which was why we'd had so many years in there where no one had phased. The man had saved my ass with that miracle cure he'd dreamed up to keep Bella-my sweet, stubborn, beautiful Bella-alive, had put himself out there over and over again to take care of the pack when it really wasn't his problem.

He'd turned down jobs with more money, prestige and privacy than he'd ever have here, just so he'd be here if we needed him. He'd flown to Italy to personally deliver my freaking kid, for crying out loud. So why was it so damned hard for Bella to get it through her thick skull that I didn't actually _want_ to do any of this?

But she didn't get it, and all we'd done since we left the Cullen house was argue about it. I was getting really…freaking…sick of feeling like the bad guy. It was right up there with slamming my knees into the dashboard every time I tried to shift on my list of favorite things to do, and since I'd managed to do _that_ ever since we left the Cullen house too this was shaping up to be a four star day. Bella's damned car was _not_ built for werewolf, but I'd run to the Cullens' house and there was no way in hell I was getting in a car with Edward.

And I'd ridden with Bella before. I wanted to get to the diner sometime before I starved to death, thank you very much.

In the interest of keeping the peace I clamped my mouth shut, reminded myself that Bella was just reacting exactly the way I'd expected her to, and kept my eyes on the road. All this fighting was starting to ruin my appetite.

"I'm sorry, Jake."

The dull roar of guilt and irritation in my head nearly drowned out her words, so I almost missed it when she mumbled, "I didn't mean anything I said back there, you know."

Oh Bells. Reaching out, relief washing through me when she let me lightly run my hand down her hair, I said, "I know. It's okay."

"No, it's not." She sucked in a deep breath. "I know you're not a murderer. You're one of the best men I know, and I really, really hate myself for saying it. I know…" She breathed in again, this one a wobbly little gasp. I cringed when I realized she was trying not to cry. "I know Carlisle means a lot to you, and you wouldn't have said yes to this if you felt like you had another choice. I just…I hate that this is even an issue, you know?"

Yeah. Yeah I did. Wordlessly, I reached down and squeezed her hand. Flipping her hand around, she laced her fingers through mine, but kept her gaze firmly fixed out the window.

"I feel like I missed it, you know?" she confessed softly. "I was so wrapped up in Italy, then the kids and coming home. I knew he was upset, but I didn't realize he'd ever consider doing something this drastic. I feel like I should have done something, been there more. Listened. Maybe if he'd realized he wasn't alone, he wouldn't have gone through with it."

I wanted to argue with her, but I'd had those same thoughts myself more than once since this mess started. Maybe, if I'd hauled him out into the woods, or worked a little harder to include him…god, now I sounded like Edward. This emo bullshit had to stop.

Yeah, I could have argued with him, but honestly? I'd wanted to curl up and die when I thought I'd lost Bella, and I'd never really had her. If Carlisle decided he wanted to follow his mate, there was only so much shit I was going to give him about it. And if I was really, really lucky, Max would kick his ass into the middle of next week for even thinking about it and I wouldn't have to worry about it. I'd never really "gotten" the weird sort of friendship those two had, but I knew he respected her in a way that he didn't many people. Sure, he liked us all well enough. He'd nod to our decisions and let us make our own path. And in the end, he'd go right on ahead and do what he was going to do in the first place, whether we went along with it or not. But he listened to her. Maybe she could talk him out of it.

Then we pulled into the parking lot of the diner, and Carlisle's predicament was the least of my worries. Edward and Alice were standing, shoulder to shoulder, blocking the door to the restaurant. Other patrons were starting to mill around, talking in low, buzzing tones and shooting worried glances at the standoff happening on the front steps. And Eli, with his beta and his third standing beside him, were silently watching as we stepped (more like limboed, in my case) out of the car.


	34. Max: Dirty Little Secret

_**Chapter 34**_

_**Forks**_

_**Hey guys. I know this chapter's a little stiff. Bear with me, okay? I've had some personal stuff cluttering up my mind, and I'm having a hard time getting my writing muscles to flex again. Take the time to stop, review, and let me know what you think Carlisle needs to do about this, okay? And as always, thanks for being awesome and taking the time to read! **_

"Morning all!"

There was an uncharacteristic bounce in my step as I wandered into the kitchen. Reaching around Rosalie, who was standing next to the stove with her jaw hanging down around her chest and a spatula in her hand, I scooped an apple out of the fruit bowl and took a big, wet, juicy bite.

"What?" I asked innocently, knowing full damn well why they were gaping at me. It was Sunday. The clinic was technically closed (although god knew Carlisle didn't know how to say no when people turned up on his doorstep). And it was 5:30 in the morning. And I was feeling downright chipper.

And just a touch obnoxious. The two go together _so well_. It seemed a shame to deny one of the other's company.

Of course, the reason I was up this early was because I hadn't been able to sleep the night before. Which was just so disgustingly girlie I could hardly stand myself, but what can you do? Finally breaking the sexual tension that had been bubbling thick and heavy for the past who-the-hell-knew-how-long (I was pretty sure it had only been a couple of weeks, but looking back it felt like it had been for-freaking-ever) had left me feeling downright giddy.

Or maybe that punch-drunk feeling came from the flash and burn preceding that suspicious melting feeling. The one that had dissolved in my abdomen when I saw that soft, serious look in his eyes and the equally soft and seriously hot kiss that had followed when Dr. C walked me to my room the night before.

Ordinarily I'd be complaining about getting sent off to bed when there were so many other, more interesting things to do in the middle of the night, but honestly? After everything that had been going on, keeping it simple was kinda nice.

And if you tell anyone I said that, I'm going to have your throat ripped out. I have connections.

"Um, nothing," Emmett shook his head and went back to her paper, muttering something I was probably glad I couldn't hear. Jasper was characteristically silent, and Alice…well hell. From the knowing looks Alice was shooting my way, I was guessing she knew everything. But she was being gracious enough not to say anything about it, and despite the avaricious curiosity burning in her eyes I wasn't feeling inclined to satisfy her curiosity.

Although…

"Good morning everybody." Carlisle walked into the room, fingers casually brushing against the edge of his slacks. (Seriously? Who wears slacks on their day off?) In a green sweater that hugged every curve of those shoulders, with his hair tousled like he'd been running his hands through it over and over again and forgotten to put himself back together, he looked certifiably yummy. Too yummy. With flashbacks from the night before dancing like sugarplums in my head, I was almost too busy drooling to catch on to one other very important, very significant, very-barely-noticeable fact.

Except for a quick nod in my direction he barely made eye contact before sitting down at the table and oh-so-politely asking Emmett for the front page.

Well. Scowling, I leaned back against the counter and took another bite. Okay, not that I was necessarily expecting a dissertation about my utter and unequivocable awesomeness after a few shared kisses the day before-which had, I realized, been strategically placed before and after we found out unexpected company was in town.

Talk about your distraction. I almost gave him credit for it. I mean, it wasn't every day that the biggest, baddest big bad wolf of the west came knocking on your door. Eli was being stupid enough to challenge Jake and, um, the southern werewolves could wipe the floor with the vamps anytime, anywhere and not even break a sweat while they were doing it. So he was a little distracted.

But…was a little acknowledgement that those kisses actually _happened_ too much to ask? Glaring evilly at the top of his head, I had the almost overwhelming urge to pick up the frying pan and throw it at him. Just to see what he'd do. Maybe it was a little petty of me, but after the freak show my life had become the past couple of weeks I wasn't in the mood to be ignored.

"_Maybe he's not ignoring you,"_ whispered an evil little voice in the back of my head. _"Maybe he finally came to his senses after you went to bed last night. Realized you're a little too high maintenance for the likes of him._"

"Shut up," I snarled irritably, flinching when Alice arched an eyebrow my way. Damn it. I hadn't meant to say that out loud.

Irritatingly, the question of what the hell I was supposed to do about it chewed at the back of my brain for exactly long enough to completely put me off my breakfast. Disgusted with myself, the world in general and the man who was sitting at the table bent over the morning paper I caught Jasper's eye, nodded in the general direction of upstairs and went to grab my shoes, coat and the really cool wrappy thing that had popped up in the mail as a "Hey, I'm nice and roasty down here, but I hope y'all are having a good time up there in the frosty, frigid north" present from Jaz.

Unfortunately, I hadn't exactly planned for the negative effects of eighteen degree weather and thin little pajama pants. Crap.

"Any particular reason you're out here freezing your ass off?"

That cocky drawl. The irritating grin. Just-the-right-amount-of-boyish-charm-to-make-you-not-deck-him-in-the-face. Could only be…

"Morning Jake."

"Max."

Jake fell into step beside me as I stomped my way around the house, trying to get warm and casting the occasional baleful glance in the general direction of the kitchen. "What's got your knickers in a not?" he asked easily, stuffing his hands in his pockets and refusing to even have the common decency to pop a goosebump or two. "You're never up this early when you don't have to be, much less wandering around in the great outdoors without even a cup of coffee."

"How did you…?"

"Wolf, remember?" He tapped the side of his nose with a grin. "I can always tell when you've been down to the coffee shop and when you've been drinking Emmett's home brewed. I can smell it all over you."

Crap. Not only had Carlisle's very obvious snub that morning deprived me of breakfast, I'd completely forgotten that I was still running without so much as a drop of coffee in my veins. If you'd asked me yesterday, I'd have told you I'd probably be convulsing by now.

Okay, so there's not actually a number at which blood caffeine levels are considered incompatible with life. But damn did it feel like it some days. And now I was seriously pissed. The question was, did I say anything to Jake?

"May as well," he said companionably, grinning when I glared. "You can wait, but Bella knows I'm here. Which means she's just going to nag me to death when she hears you're out here in a snit, then she's going to come over here and pry it out of you, then I'm going to get a peal rung over my head for not realizing you were upset. Really, it doesn't pay to be the "Mr" in Mr and Mrs Black some days."

"Coulda told you that before you married her, bucko." I sighed at the puppydog look on Jake's face. He was full of shit, and we both knew it. But he was trying to be a friend, and I didn't want to toss that back in his face. "If you must know, I'm sulking."

"Ah." Jake walked along quietly for a minute or two, and I felt the muscles in my shoulders slowly start to relax. Shoulda known he wouldn't leave it at that. "Does this have anything to do with the fact that I smell Carlisle all over you?"

Damned wolf.

"Shut the fuck up Jake," I snarled, hunching into my coat and heading back through the snow toward the door to the clinic, making sure I kicked up enough snow to send it flying into his face. All he did was laugh. Stupid wolf metabolism. But it made me feel better.

"Touchy." Jake pulled a granola bar out of his coat pocket, peeled the paper back and bit in with an annoying _crunch_. "So what did Carlisle do to piss you off?"

"He kissed me."

He'd managed to spray crumbs all over the place (have I mentioned I really miss the days when Jake considered me company and actually bothered minding his manners?) and I was feeling exceptionally nasty that morning. So you'll have to forgive me if I got an immense amount of satisfaction out of listening to him cough and hack when he choked on the damned thing.

"He _what_?" he finally gasped out.

Smirking, I wasn't sure whether to be amused or insulted by the look on his face. My own nerves were rubbed so raw it didn't really matter one way or the other. It just reaffirmed what Dr. C's rejection this morning had told me already-that what had happened the night before was just a stupid, hormone-driven mistake that he wanted to forget about in the cold light of day.

No. Stuffing my hands in my pockets and stomping ahead of Jake, I forced myself to admit it wasn't that simple. If Carlisle regretted it he'd have very politely apologized for not behaving like a gentlemen, blamed it on being overwrought, and we'd have gone on as we had been. Which sucked, but considerably less than trying to wrap my head around the fact that apparently for now I was going to be his dirty little secret.

Okay, don't get me wrong. I usually have no problem being someone's dirty little secret. In fact, there's been more than one occasion where I've thoroughly enjoyed it. Especially when I was in college, knowing those rich society parents were going to flip their lids if they found out their sweet little boys were dallying with…well…_me._ But we weren't in high school anymore.

Then again…these weren't just random roommates. For all intents and purposes, those were Carlisle's kids that had been chillaxing in the kitchen this morning.

That thought stopped me in my tracks. Metaphorically speaking. (I knew better than to _actually_ slam on the brakes. Jake would have been happy for the excuse to stuff me face-first in the snow.) I had always known Carlisle was a "father" to the Cullen clan. But I had never really stopped to think about what that meant. I'd known friends in the hospital who had dated after their children were born, and who had waited months before introducing their children to the people they were dating-if they introduced them at all.

Granted, it was probably different when one's children were well into their 70's…but still. Would Carlisle want to keep whatever this was between us? Would it be possible in a house like this? And would I be able to live with the fact that because of his wishes, because of the odd nature of this little family and because of the fact that I was basically dating the father of one of my best friends (and there was no way I was thinking too hard about that), I wasn't going to be able to tell my friends about these odd feelings bubbling and coursing inside me?

Oh good grief, when did I turn into a romantic? It was like some kind of bad Nora Roberts novel. Time to shake it off.

Shake it off I did, at Forks's only gym, a short while later. Nothing burns the frustration like a mile or ten on the treadmill. By the time I was done my muscles were rubbery, my arms were limp, and I was too damned tired to bask in my own insecurity. So when I walked in the front door and found Carlisle standing there waiting for me, all I could do was sigh. Figures.

"Dr. C," I said, as politely as possible as I slipped between him and the wall, heading for Jaz's office and the sweet, mind-numbing oblivion of charting.

"Maxine."

Damn it. The solemn tone to his voice had me stopping, turning, leaning against the wall and scowling at the ma staring back at me. Seriously. Did he have to look perfect 24 hours a day, or was it just bad luck? I, of course, was a wet mess. I'd learned a lot time ago that walking into a house full of vampires reeking of sweat and adrenaline from the gym was just begging for hours of abuse. Bad enough when I trained at the house but if I walked into Rosalie's kitchen smelling of anything less than clean, fresh human I'd hear about nothing else for hours upon hours on end. Which meant I'd showered at the gym, and the ends of my hair were frozen where they were poking out underneath my perky little cap. My clothes were wrinkled where they crumpled under my coat, and restless fingers had chipped away at the polish on my nails while I'd sat at the weight bench and tried to keep my mind on task.

So all I could do was sigh, and lean into the hand that he lightly trailed down my arm. Give in when I wanted to scream, and lay my head against his chest so he could pull me close and press his lips to my head.

"I'm sorry," he whispered softly, pulling me closer and wrapping his arms around me. "I was stupid and careless and thoughtless, and I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" I asked, knowing it was useless but refusing to go down without a fight. It didn't matter. He knew, with that innate sense that he'd always used with his children. That he'd always used when Bella and Jaz and I were upset. Of course he knew. He'd always known.

"No one expects you to be the hard ass here, Maxine." Did 400 year old vampires actually use the words 'hard ass' in a sentence? Well. Apparently this one did. Gently reaching down, he tipped my chin up so he could see my face, the way he'd done since I was a teenager. "I hurt you this morning. I'm sorry for that."

"I had no right to be hurt, or angry, or anything else." Forcing a bright smile to my lips, I beamed up at him, knowing he'd know I was faking but unable to do anything else. He didn't smile back, just bent down to run his lips along mine in a feather light touch that had me leaning back into him and swallowing the moan that was bubbling up in my throat.

"Um." It took me a couple of tries to clear my throat when he finally lifted his head. Damn, that man could kiss. "Jake's in the kitchen looking for you."

"Jacob will wait." With a sigh of his own he reached down, caught my hand and pulled me into his office. Carefully closing the door behind us, he tugged me down into one of the chairs in front of his desk, sitting down in the other and folding my hands into his.

Looking down, he absently rubbed his fingers over mine. I didn't know what to do. All the thoughts that had been churning in my head, all of the terror and confusion and uncertainty that had been coursing through me, drifted away at the certainty and confusion on his face. Looked like I wasn't the only one that didn't have a clue what the hell was going on.

"Would it," he said carefully, "be exceptionally presumptuous of me to say that I find I'd rather like you to have the right? I am a very, very old vampire, Maxine. Far too old for you, when it gets right down to it," he added wryly, making me smile. "And I find it's unfortunate that my mind has not yet wandered into doddering old age, because this would be so much easier if I could forget how miserably difficult it is to begin a relationship, a true relationship, with a woman and could instead forge blindly ahead with all the innocence and ridiculousness of youth. Instead, I find myself struggling to figure out how to behave with you."

"I didn't know I needed to come with an instruction book," I said dryly, laughing a little when he just looked at me. Alright, so maybe I did. "Look, we're both figuring this out. Just…let me know how you want to play this, okay? I mean...well. I kinda get why you wouldn't want anyone to know that we're…whatever the hell we are. We can keep this between us. No worries."

Carlisle lifted my hand to his lips, silently running his lips over the exposed skin. It felt so good I pushed the ominous thud in my stomach to the back of my mind.


	35. Carlisle: Daggers at Dawnish

_**A/N: Hello darlings! Has everyone had a good new year? Yes, I confess. There's been so much drama in real life that I took a break from writing fics. But this story is itching to be picked up and finished, and I think it's high time that I did. So I'm going to do my best to get you through the rest of the tale, because quite frankly, it's a pretty cool one **_

_**A few notes, going forward. My writing time is considerably shorter these days. In the interests of being able to update on a fairly regular basis, chapters are going to be shorter too. I promise, I'll still spin the whole story, but in slightly smaller bites than you've seen thus far. The 10-15 page chapters I'd been doing before this are just a little too much to handle in a single sitting right now. And yes, people are going to start dying soon, so don't go anywhere, kay? **_

_**On that note, we pick up in Forks, the day after our last chapter. It's mid-January, and the Cullens and wolves of La Push have gathered together to figure out what, exactly, they're going to do about Eli…and how they're going to stop the pack war he's put into play. **_

**Carlisle**

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Max, who had tucked herself the chair behind my desk, gave it an experimental spin. "Ohhh, Dr. C, this is nice. I'm telling Jaz she needs to hit you up for an upgrade." Focusing back in on Jacob, she frowned. "There's a good chance this is going to pretty much kill any chances of making nice with the Mojave pack. Like, ever."

"Do I have a choice?" Jacob spun sideways with a snort, popping his feet over the edge of a chair. "I'm not just going to roll over and hand my pack to Eli. Not gonna happen."

"I vote we go down there and kick their furry tails all the way back to California right now ," snarled Emmett, prowling back and forth across the end of the room. His restless pacing was starting to give me a headache. With a sigh, I pulled the little stress balls I kept for moments like this out of the corner of my desk and tossed it to him. He snatched all three out of the air without even looking, juggling them easily. And, thank the lord, no longer moving.

Max grinned, clapping silently and bouncing up and down to make the chair squeak. Catching her eye, I had to smile. Despite the gravity of the situation, and the nagging misery clawing at the back of my head (yes, vampires could get tension headaches too) it warmed something inside me that had been cold too long to see her laughing again.

We needed to figure out the details of this strange whatever-it-was that was happening between us. I wasn't foolish enough to believe our conversation from the day before had truly fixed anything. Everything was too new, too big, too frightening to put a name to yet. We could hash it out later. Right now, however, I needed to see her smile. If I didn't make it through this day, I wanted to remember her just as she was now.

I hadn't told the others, but they knew our enemy. If things went south, the way I was desperately afraid that they would, there was a good chance at least one of us wouldn't be coming home tonight.

Jacob, Sam and Embry had been standing on my doorstep as soon as the sun came up that morning. I'd been expecting them. Eli had given Jacob 48 hours to either relinquish the pack, or prove he had the right to keep it. With teeth and claws and blood. It disgusted me sometimes, how thin the veneer of civility we wore could stretch, but it was what it was. And what it was was a fight Jacob couldn't hope to win.

If all went according to plan, he wouldn't have to.

"This is such crap," grumbled Rosalie, looking down at her coral fingertips with a sigh. "I just got these done. Swear to god, if fur face and his little stooges mess up my manicure it doesn't matter how important he is. I'm going to kill him. I'm going to skin him. And I'm going to spend the next few centuries admiring how nice he looks hanging on my wall."

"Rose." I tried to sound paternally disapproving, but I couldn't help the quick quirk of the lips that snuck out before I could stop it. Rose was so delightfully predictable. Mostly because she meant every word of it. She might not have any particular love for shapeshifters in general, but Jacob and the La Push pack were family. For family, she would do what needed to be done and not lose a night's sleep about it one way or the other.

Blaming it on her manicure was just her way of writing it off.

When Jacob had come to me the day before to tell me about Eli's visit, and his ultimatum, three things had been immediately apparent. One, Jacob wouldn't last five minutes in a fight with the old lobo. He was a good fighter, but Eli was quicker, stronger, and more experienced. And for him, it wasn't personal. Jacob associated Eli with Jaz. He'd do everything he could to keep from tearing the other wolf's throat out, because he knew it would break Jazmine's heart. Eli would show no such hesitation.

Two, we couldn't let the Mojave alphas take over control of the pack at La Push. The treaty would disintegrate faster than marshmallows over an open fire. The only way to maintain the peace would be for us to pack up and move on. We'd talked about it, and as selfish as it was, we had no desire to leave. It may have started out as just another place to stay, but in the end, Forks had become home. Its citizens, human and non-human alike, were family. This was where we belonged, and we were willing to fight for the right to stay.

Which brings us to the third. The only reason Eli had challenged Jacob was because he believed leadership of the pack was easily in his reach. What he forgot, what they had all forgotten when they set this plan of theirs in motion, was that through the ties we'd made, the battles we'd fought together, we stood as one now.

Eli might have come north thinking he was challenging Jacob, but he was about to discover he'd bitten off a bit more than he could chew.

Which was why, three hours later, the members of the La Push pack lined La Push beach, silent and still. Jacob, flanked by Sam, stood at their head. The children and I stood beside them, an immovable front, the waves splashing frigid water over our heels as we watched Eli and his wolves approach.

"What the hell is this?" Eli snarled, looking from Jacob to me and back again. "I thought we had an agreement. This is between you and me. Your pet bloodsuckers aren't a part of this."

"No, _you_ had an agreement." Jacob's voice was calm, carrying through the morning air to the ears of everyone standing on that beach. "I have a responsibility to protect my pack. Whatever the cost. I don't know how they do it in your pack, but this pack stands together. All of us," he added, looking over at me with a smile. "The Cullens are just as much a part of La Push as we are, and we'll stand together to make sure it stays that way."

Eli looked from Jacob to me, then over the crowd standing at his back. I could tell he was weighing his odds, trying to decide how good his chances were of getting his jaws around Jacob's throat before someone took him down. Heavy silence fell over the beach, all of us bracing for the fight to come. There was nothing left to be said. The Mojave wolves would leave, or they would fight. Either way, none of us were leaving this beach until this was settled.

Eli's beta curled his lip back in a snarl, immediately echoed by Sam. I saw him brace himself for the lunge, but before he had a chance to move a shotgun blast split the air.

"Now, I know you boys aren't down here starting trouble." Charlie, in full uniform and looking as intimidating as it was possible for a human to look on a beach filled with wolves, was standing downwind, looking from one group to the other. Sneaky bastard had made sure we wouldn't smell him coming up.

I heard Jacob's sharp intake of breath, and tried to ignore the quick clutch of panic in my own gut. Eli wouldn't be stupid enough to use the Chief of Police as leverage. On the other hand, Charlie was Jacob's father-in-law. The wolf was backed into a corner and looking for a way out. He knew, as we did, that it was far too dangerous to bring a human into the middle of this. Charlie wouldn't stand a chance.

"Oh, for the love of god." A familiar, disgusted voice filled the air, immediately followed by a head of flaming red hair. Jazmine, with Quil hot on her heels, came up behind Charlie. I felt the muscles in my back sag in relief. Bingo. It wasn't quite the ending we'd had planned, but it was an ending nonetheless. I'd take it.

"I leave you people alone for a month. One. Measly. Month," she ranted. "And you've got a freaking pack war going on." The tiny little redhead, with her blue ski coat and rainbow hat, didn't even break stride as she came down the hill and smacked Jacob in the back of the head hard enough to make him stagger. "You know better. And you!" She spun on Eli, who immediately wiped off the grin that had been sneaking across his face. "You and that testosterone overload of yours owe me two weeks' vacation, and you're by god going to pay up. I'm standing here freezing my ass off in Forks instead of enjoying my last two weeks in paradise because your mother called me and told me you were fixing to get yourself killed."

Her voice softened, confusion and hurt mixing with the anger on her face. "What were you thinking, Eli? This is my home. Why did you bring this to my door?"

"He's not fit," Eli muttered stiffly, shame mixing with anger as he tried to figure out how to get out of this with his pride intact. I'd been on the receiving end of Jazmine's temper before. I couldn't help but feel a little bit sorry for him.

"Oh, whatever," she scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You just can't stand the fact that they play with vampires. Grow up, Eli. Open your eyes and see the world for once. These are the good guys. You've been so busy trying to figure out how to stay three steps ahead of your allies that you completely missed the fact that you've got an enemy knocking on your door. The Volturi are out there, waiting. You can't afford to waste manpower on a stupid fight you lost before it even got started."

Turning to Charlie, Jaz smiled sweetly. "Thank you for picking us up, Chief Swan. Would you be willing to escort these three buffoons back to the Cullens', so we can work this out like civilized beasts?"

"Yes ma'am." Charlie's voice was polite, the look in his eyes anything but. "Gentlemen?"

It clearly wasn't a request. Without a word, the three wolves turned and filed after him…but not before Eli managed to shoot one more venomous glare in Jacob's direction. The look on his face made it very clear this wasn't over. I questioned the wisdom of taking them back to our house, but it was the only place besides the beach to hold all of us at once-and it was our territory. We had the advantage. I wasn't going to waste it.

"Jacob, why don't you, Sam, Jasper and Alice run ahead?" I suggested. "Make sure our guests are settled in." And don't start any trouble with the humans, I thought dryly. None of the wolves would harm the children, I was certain of that. But Bella and Max were both at the house. Eli was fond of both of them, but there was no sense taking chances if we didn't have to.

As soon as they were gone, Jaz looked over at me and smiled. "Some welcome home party Carlisle. Can't wait to see what you're gonna do next."


	36. Max: Busted

**January**

**Later that afternoon, at the Cullen house…**

**Max**

"Jaz!"

Okay, so screeching like a banshee probably wasn't the most professional thing I could have done. Especially with a waiting room full of patients. Fortunately, most of them lived in the area and knew who she was. Lord knows, I'd had enough people ask me, in that polite and oh-so-patronizing way, when she was going to be back. So the looks they were giving me weren't _too_ strange when I tossed the pile of charts in my hand on the receptionist's desk and ran over to give her a hug.

"Oof! You're squashing me!" She laughed, but wrapped her arms around me and squeezed me back.

"Well I should be. When did you get back? I thought you guys were basking on the beach for at least another two weeks?" I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively. "Tell you the truth, I figured you'd find yourself a beach bum, ditch the wolf and spend the rest of your life trying to explain why you were too short to carry your own surf board.

Jaz rolled her eyes. "That's exactly where I'd be right now, but someone had to come straighten these morons out. From what I saw this morning, you lot were doing a piss-poor job of it. You're lucky Mary called me last night."

The exasperation on her face would have made me smile. If I hadn't spent most of the last two hours peering out the window waiting for everyone to come back home, that is. Carlisle hadn't said anything about it, but I knew full damned well that if push came to shove he'd put himself between Eli and Jacob. He'd reason that he was older. More experienced. And therefore harder to kill. I knew that was just him. Putting himself between danger and the people he cared about was what he did.

There'd been desperation on his lips when he'd pulled me into his office to kiss me goodbye. I'd wrapped my arms around him and gone with it, refusing to do what I wanted to do. Which was tell him to just tell Eli to stop being an idiot and stay home. Because after surviving the Volturi, after surviving Natalya, it was inconceivable that they wouldn't be coming back.

'I don't think that word means what you think it means.'

'Shut up.'

Alright, it was conceivable. Esme was gone. If I needed any reminder that they weren't immortal, that their lives could come to an end in the blink of an eye, that was it. But they'd still go. They'd do it, because it needed to be done. And if I was going to be a part of their lives, I had to learn how to live with that.

I was starting to realize why Emily was so grateful when Sam stepped down as Alpha. And why Bella was always so stressed out. It was one thing to see your friends put their lives on the line. It was another to knowingly and willingly risk the man you…

'Not ready to go there Max.'

"Listen, I've only got a minute." Jaz stepped back, patting me on the shoulder. "I have to go knock some heads together, then Quil and I are going to head back to the house to unpack."

"Ahh yeah. That's right, you're giving that whole 'co-habitation' thing a try." I laughed when she just closed her eyes and sighed. Never mind that she and Quil had practically been living together for the past year anyway. "You guys'll be fine. And remember, you can always come crash at my place when you're ready to give in to the urge to skin him."

"Don't think I won't take you up on that." Looking around the waiting room, she lowered her voice. "Listen, Bella caught me up on Jack. And what happened with your dad. What say the three of us go out tonight, get crazy drunk and discuss the stupidity of men?"

"Thanks, but I told Carlisle I'd babysit the clinic tonight. And I don't have anyone to watch the kids." Wow, listen to me. I actually sounded all grown up for a minute there.

Jaz snorted. "I cut my vacation short by two weeks, Carlisle can watch the damn clinic tonight. And Rose and Alice will watch the kids. Ah!" She held up her hand when I started to argue. "Two weeks. Two. Freaking. Weeks. They owe me and they know it."

"Fair enough." I could argue, but there wasn't much point. She'd just badger me until I gave in and agreed anyway. And going out sounded like a lot more fun than spending the night sitting around waiting for the phone to ring anyway.

She patted me on the cheek, waved to the room full of patients that were staring at us with rabid curiosity by this point, then walked down the hall to go play referee. Grinning, I plucked the next chart out of the bin. Jaz was home early. Jake and Carlisle were still in one piece. This day was looking up.

Nobody expects you to look respectable when you're going drinking and dancing at a salsa club. Anticipation bubbled as I pulled up the zipper on my thigh high boots, then fluffed the short skirt and adjusted the halter on the flirty white dress. A quick layer of lipstick, another fluff to my recently curled hair (thank you, Alice) and I was actually starting to feel like myself again.

Funny how a few weeks of respectability will change you. Staring at myself in the mirror, I couldn't help a quick pang of regret. Jaz was home. She would, I was sure, insist that she was going to enjoy the rest of her vacation. Then she'd be in the office, peering through charts and poking at patients and generally making a nuisance of herself until she gave in and got back to work. 24 hours, tops.

It was time to go home. As nice as this little vacation had been-and despite the general insanity of it all, it _had _been nice-it was time to get back to real life. Kara was feeling better. A month of loving attention at the Cullen house had done wonders for the little girl. She was still stuck in a wheelchair, would be for weeks yet, but her eyes were bright, and she laughed more than she cried these days. It was time for her to go back to school. Start a therapy program that would speed her recovery back to the happy little girl she'd been. Jeremy too. The last time I'd talked to her, their social worker had been making noise about long-term placement. I'd put her off with the reminder that Kara was going to need medical care for quite a while yet, but that wouldn't work forever. Two months, maybe three, and the kids would be ready to be moved.

Under normal circumstances, I was okay with that. I'd already had the Beckett kids longer than most of the other kids who'd been passing through. Normally they stayed with me for a few weeks until another spot opened up. If that. Never long enough to get attached, not really.

I had a feeling it was far too late for these two. I'd been attached before they'd formally become a part of my life. Now that they had been babied by my mother, played with Billy and Jenny, sat on Emmett's lap and watched in wide-eyed wonder while he beat Mario with his eyes closed, they were family. It was going to be hard to let them go. Hard enough that I was seriously considering petitioning to be their long-term placement option, which was something I'd never given any serious thought to before. Quite frankly, it was terrifying. But so was the thought of sending them off to another home, so…

Wrapped up in thoughts of Kara and Jeremy (and smiling at the shrieks and giggles I heard coming from the kitchen) I didn't notice the man standing behind me until two cool, solid arms slipped around my waist.

"You look amazing," murmured a soft voice in my ear. Smiling, I snuggled back against Carlisle's chest, enjoying the newness of not having to feel guilty about enjoying this and squirming a little so the buttons on his shirt weren't poking into the soft skin on my back…and freezing when I felt him tense. "Hey, you okay?"

"Fine." The strained rasp in his voice surprised me. He didn't sound fine. He sounded like he wanted to be anywhere but right there. Which, let me tell you, does absolutely nothing for a girl's ego. Turning with a frown, I found myself looking up into a pair of very dark eyes…and getting up close and personal with exactly what his problem was. "Oh."

"Yes. Oh." He smiled ruefully, very carefully putting some distance between us. "My apologies."

"Oh, you don't have to apologize for that," I said cheekily, laughing with relief when he frowned. He really was too much fun. And it was good to know he wasn't about to start playing hot and cold with me again. "Hey, if you think I'm offended by that, you've got another think coming."

"Well. Hmmm." If he'd been human, I think he'd have been bright red. As it was, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and shifted like a schoolboy. "I actually had only intended to tell you to have a good time tonight." Eyeing my clothes, his lips turned up in a grin. "But it looks like you're already several steps ahead of me."

"Yeah, well." I shrugged self-consciously. "It's been a while since I got to paint the town red."

"And it's been a very, very long month for you," he agreed, sympathy darkening his eyes.

"None of that now." Maybe it was just because I was in a mood. Maybe it was because it was the first time I'd had him to myself all day. Maybe it was just that I wasn't up for a good wallow. Whatever it was, I brushed it aside and wrapped my arms around his neck. "There are better things to do than stand around and lament the last month of my crazy, messed-up life. Especially because it brought me here."

He opened his mouth to argue, but I stretched up and planted my lips on his. Mmmm. It was nice to have someone tall enough I didn't tower over them in my boots for once. He pulled back like he was going to argue, then gave up and pulled me in for a satisfying, if careful, dance of lips and hands. Both of us were so wrapped up in the press of bodies and the heat that practically steamed off of us that we didn't notice the clicking of heels coming down the hall until it was too late.

"Max! Hurry your ass up! We're going to be…Oh!"


	37. Bella: Bella Notte

**January**

_**Somewhere near La Push…**_

**Bella**

"They were snogging. Like seriously, straight the fuck up, trying to swallow each other's faces, snogging."

"You've been watching too much BBC again." Amused, I sipped at the straw in my sissy drink. This place was cute. Silver stars still hung from the ceiling from the New Year. I wasn't sure if that was regular décor or if someone was just too lazy to take them down. The cover band on stage wasn't half bad, and the shrimp cocktail I was nibbling on was amazing. For now, the dance floor was conspicuously empty. But the night was still young.

Jaz had been rambling on like a lunatic about walking in on Max and Carlisle since I showed up the better part of an hour ago. Apparently she'd muttered an apology, told Max we'd meet her here and taken off like her tail feathers were on fire. Okay, yeah, it was a little creepy. And I was more than a little concerned about how this was going to work out, all things considered. But it wasn't all that bad.

I mean, it was _Max_. Crazy, reckless, wild Max, who followed nobody's rules but her own. She was going to drive the oh-so-conventional Carlisle crazy in a week.

Of course, Emily had a point. Max was probably the only person on the planet that wasn't too awed or intimidated by the great Carlisle Cullen to have anything resembling a normal relationship with him. Which scared the hell out of me too, because if there was one thing I'd learned about life with Edward, it was that one did not simply have a normal relationship with a vampire. Edward had always been too over-protective, too conscientious about his dark side, to really take the plunge. I knew he'd loved me, but I also knew that my humanity always had him holding a piece of himself back.

Max wasn't as tough as she looked. Somewhere in the back of her mind was that scared, neglected, abused little girl that no one wanted. She buried it under leather and lace and a smart-assed attitude that wouldn't quit, but at the end of the day part of her was still afraid the people who loved her didn't really want her.

I wanted to say it wouldn't happen, but it would. At some point, Carlisle was going to pull away from her. Maybe it would be to protect her. Maybe it would be to protect himself-he wasn't exactly over Esme yet, after all. Or maybe it would be because he was a male, and males of all species were genetically engineered to be idiots. Either way, he was going to be all noble, she was going to see the rejection (and not the idiocy behind it) and Jaz and I were going to be picking up the pieces.

But it promised to be a good show till then. And with the better part of my second banana daiquiri floating through my bloodstream, I was starting to forget why I shouldn't just sit back and enjoy.

"Jesus Bella, are you buzzed already?" Max flopped into the seat across from me, tossing her purse under her chair with a wicked grin. Nick, who had followed her in, lifted his hand in a quick wave and got himself lost in the crowd. Guess he decided he didn't really want to be a part of girl's night after all. "Motherhood has made you into a wimp. You used to be able to hold your liquor."

"Shut up," I grumbled with a happy grin. So I was a lightweight. Always had been. Always would be. And this time, I had payback. "I heard you had better things to give lip service to than my alcohol tolerance. Something tall, blonde and bloodsucking, maybe?"

Jaz choked. And by choked I don't mean quietly and discreetly coughed into her hand. I mean the better part of a mouthful of tea went flying across the table. Max quickly reached for a napkin and started blotting up, but her cheeks burned bright red. Oh yeah. Grinning, I leaned back in my chair. After the amount of grief she'd given me about Jacob (the "La Pushy Bitch" sweatshirt she gave me for Christmas one year was still hanging in the corner of my closet-Jake laughed his ass off every time he saw it) it was way past time to get back a little of my own.

"Problem?" I asked sweetly.

"Glad my love life amuses you," Max said dryly, blotting at the tablecloth. I didn't realize the tips of her ears could turn quite that pink.

"Like you would not believe."

"Wait a minute," Jaz croaked, her head bouncing back and forth between us. "Are you saying you knew about this? And you don't have a problem with it?"

Shrugging nonchalantly, I stirred my drink. "Emily mentioned it weeks ago." Smirking, I added, "The sexual tension in the Cullen house has been so thick, you could cut it with a knife. It was just a matter of time."

Okay, so I hadn't had a clue before that. Or before Edward had pulled me aside to ask, seriously, if I thought Carlisle was going to get hurt. Damned mind reading vampires. I'd forgotten about it in the middle of this whole mess with Eli, but if he had a front-row seat to Carlisle's thoughts…

I didn't want to know. I really didn't. Something about that was just icky and wrong. Didn't mean I couldn't lord it over Jaz though. Just a little.

"You've known for weeks," Max said blankly, smiling when the waiter stopped by and ordering enough appetizers to feed an army. And soda. Guess she was kinda on call. "I just figured it out myself a couple of days ago."

"Figured out what?" Jaz was looking a little pale.

Max shrugged. "That all the sexual tension wasn't just one-sided. Although I did always say Dr. C had a great…"

"Stop! Stop right there." Jaz held up her hand and groaned. "I don't even want to know." Growing serious, she looked at Max. "I know you. Carlisle's a sweetheart, and you've both been through a lot. And you've been under each other's feet constantly for the last month. But how did that manage to turn into…" she waved her arms wildly, "…this?"

"I honestly don't know. It just sort of…did." Looking Jaz in the eye, she added, "I get that it's weird for you guys. I do. I know Carlisle wants to keep it under wraps right now until he figures out what the rest of the family is going to say about it. But I can't say I regret it. Dr. C's pretty awesome when you manage to get past all the starch and stuff and nonsense, and while I have no idea what's going to happen or how long it's going to last or even if it's going to turn out to be a massive mistake, I'm not going to give this up just because the rest of you guys have some getting used to it to do."

She sipped at her drink, but the tension in her shoulders told me she wasn't as blasé about the whole thing as she'd like us to believe. I hadn't really thought about what the Cullens were going to say about Max and their "Dad" hooking up. If it was weird for me, how much worse would it be for them? And Emmett…oh god, Emmett. He was still upset with Carlisle, although the two had been getting along a lot better lately. (Edward said he had his hands so full with Rosalie that he didn't have time to fight with Carlisle.) Carlisle and Esme were all they'd ever known. Would they freak out about Max?

"When are you guys going to tell them?"

"Dunno." Max shrugged, refusing to look up. "Jake could smell him on me, so between that and Eddie boy's mad mind-reading skills I'm guessing they already know. We just haven't confirmed it yet. I'm leaving that up to Carlisle. They're his kids."

"They're your friends," Jaz corrected gently, reaching over to squeeze her hand. "It's going to be weird, but we still love you. Just tell me this isn't some casual hookup that you're going to walk away from after a week or two." Max slowly turned her head to glare at her. Jaz just shrugged. "Like I said sweetie, we know you. Until Jack, you bounced between men like a ping pong ball. And there's nothing wrong with that, as long as everyone's okay with it and life can move on when it's done. But Carlisle's not cut out like that. I don't want to see either one of you get hurt."

"I don't know what the hell this is," Max said dryly, "but casual definitely isn't it. That would be sooooo much easier."

"Alright then." Time to break this mope fest up. We were here to party. "Since it's not casual, we can officially declare you, Maxine, in a relationship. Which means that under the girl code, you are now required to tell us everything."

It made her smile, just like I knew it would. "Nuh uh. Last thing I need is you nosypants running around spilling the beans." Looking right, then left, she leaned forward and whispered, "I'll tell you this though. There are definitely times when all that experience of his comes in handy. If this doesn't work out, I think I'm going to have to start putting age limits on my men. Anyone under 200 can wait in line."

We all cracked up, and just like that the tension deflated like a hot air balloon.

"Sooooo," Max drawled, tucking into a huge plate of scallions, "who's going to fill me in on what happened with Eli and crew?"

"Ugh." Jaz rolled her eyes. "The children are going to have to learn to get along. Mommy and Daddy said so. There's going to be a lot more group decision making, with some kind of council containing representatives from each major group being created to oversee "shapeshifter business" on the west coast. Jake's going to find himself accountable for a lot more…but then, so is Eli. So it worked out."

"And the Cullens?"

"Are staying right where they are," I said firmly. "Nobody was giving in on that. Eli agreed to allow Carlisle to have a voice in the council-more, I think, because his mom likes him than anything else, but I'll take what I can get."

"A sorry thought from such a beautiful woman," drawled a warm voice behind me. The cold breath tickling my neck sent shivers down my spine, but before I could stand up two gentle hands pressed my shoulders back down. Two very gentle, very _cold _hands. Oh, this couldn't possibly be good. "No, don't get up Mrs. Black. I didn't mean to interrupt your dinner."

"Well, then, what did you plan to do…" Max asked, looking at the figure looming over my head, "…Dimitri?"


End file.
